THE Rev. J. R. Mackay, M.A., Inverness, has received the following letter from the Rev. John Knox Bokwe, who is translating the Psalms into metrical Kafir. Specimens of translation are subjoined.
UNITED FREE CHURCH MISSION, UGIE,
EAST GRIQUALAND, 11th April, 1912.
DEAR MR. MACKAY,—Though this is headed Ugie, I am writing the letter in Rev. Brownlee J. Ross’s manse at Cunningham, Fingoland, where it has taken me three or four days to come down from Ugie by train—over three hundred miles. I could have come overland on horseback, but the doctor has forbidden my doing this more than I can help. . . .
I find you and he are intimate friends, and on speaking to him about the Kafir Psalms we are doing for your Mission, he asked me to read over several—more than half-a-dozen of the most difficult ones in the first thirty Psalms now in Mr. Henderson’s hands—he comparing with the Revised Kafir Version. Mr. Ross being an expert in Hebrew as well, of our own missionaries, I was glad to find entire approval of the way we have so far succeeded in rendering into metre this translation work. I believe he is one of our best Kafir (Xosa) scholars in the mission field. He promises to write to you by next mail his opinion of what I have showed him, as well as to suggest to Principal Henderson to push it through, so long as we keep it to the level of those we have handed to Lovedale.
While in the train I thought I might pencil the first and second Psalms in Kafir, as specimens of Kafir (Xosa) language in translated metre. It might interest the readers of your Magazine to compare verse by verse, or even try to sing with the English tunes. The syllables in the lines are the same, though the accent of language falls differently in the singing part. You will be amused also to find that sometimes to bring out all the ideas of the Scripture texts—as in the case of the second Psalm, verses 10 and 12—your eight lines of English metre are doubled to sixteen lines in Xosa-Kafir.
About the accent in singing—the early missionaries introduced the English tunes from Scotland, not minding the irregularity of the fall of the accent to language. We got accustomed to the usage, but latterly development of things is showing up this fault. Some day, if you like, I can send the music of a properly accented Kafir tune—my own composition for the hundred and thirty-third Psalm—and how it would shock the English accent, as your tunes sometimes shock our language, though we are using them to our profit these two or three generations.—Yours faithfully,
J. K. BOKWE.
PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE.
SPECIMENS OF XOSA-KAFIR VERSION (New Translation) WITH
ENGLISH VERSION (in parallel lines).
INDUMISO I.
1 Asimtu uyolo lowo
Ungelilo ‘nxaxa;
Maceben’ abangendawo,
Akana kuhamba.
Endeleni yab’ aboni
Akanak’ ukuma;
Nambutweni yabagxeiki
Akahlali kuyo.
2 Yonk’ imini, nobusuku,
Sok’ enonelela
Ngomyalela ka Yehova,—
Ecamanga ngawo.
3 Unjengomi’ omiliselwe
Pezu kwemjeloe,
Ovelisa isiqamo
Ngamaxesha aso;
‘Gqabi lawo alibuni,—
Hlala liluhlaza:
Kufuman’ impumelelo
Oko akwenzayo.
4 Unakany’ abangendawo
‘Ntsikelel’ enjalo
Baba njengo mququbona
Opetshetwa umke.
5 ‘Bangendawo ngenxa yoko
Mini yesigwebo,
Isikundla abanaso,
Sesama lungisa.
6 Ngani? ‘Ndlela yamalunga
Iyayaz’ i-Nkosi;
Kodw’ eyezi kohlakali,
Yon’ iyakudaka.
INDUMISO II.
1 Kokwanin’ oku barula
Kwazo ezi ntlanga?
Ngati zenz’ imbutumbutu
Yokupitizela?
‘Zizw’ ezicamang’ uhaya,
Zidubadubeka;
2 Nab’ okumkani bomhlaba
Nabazidwangube
Bebungana ngamacebo,—
Bezidepisela,—
Ngom-Tanjiswa ka-Yehova
Baya bungisana,
3 Bati: “Qaul’ imbopelelo
Sizijace kuti;
Sizilahle ezi zintya,
Zingasikuleki!”
PSALM I.
1 That man hath perfect blessedness
Who walketh not astray
In counsel of ungodly men,
Nor stands in sinners’ way,
Nor sitteth in the scooner’s chair;
2 But placeth his delight
Upon God’s law, and meditates
On his law day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree that grows
Near planted by a river,
Which in his season yields his fruit,
And his leaf fadeth never:
And all he doth shall prosper well.
4 The wicked are not so;
But like they are unto the chaff,
Which wind drives to and fro.
5 In judgment therefore shall not stand
Such as ungodly are;
Nor in th’ assembly of the just
Shall wicked men appear.
6 For why? the way of godly men
Unto the Lord is known:
Whereas the way of wicked men
Shall quite be overthrown.
PSALM II.
1 Why rage the heathen? and vain things
Why do the people mind?
2 Kings of the earth do set themselves,
And princes are combined,
To plot against the Lord and his
Anointed, saying thus,
3 Let us asunder break their bands,
And cast their cords from us.
4 Yen’ ohlel’ emazulwini,
Ubahleka bonke;
Iyabagculel’ i-Nkosi,
Ngawo lomampunge.
5 Yakuteta ibaruma,
Bokwanqiswa bonke
Yakutshijila ngomsindo
Bakunkwantya bonke.
6 Iti:—”Ndizitambisele
Lowo ungo-Wamu,
Pezu kwe-Tsiyon’ engcwele,—
Nguye u-Kumkani!”
7 Womenyezw’ um-miselo
Ka-Yehova Ngaye,
Oti: “Ungu-Nyana Wami
Namhla ndikuzele.
8 “Cela Kum okulilifa,
Ndikwabel’ intlanga;
Kwzipelo zaw’ umhlaba,
Wonza ngokutanda.
9 “Ndozivikiva ngentonga,
Eyentsimbi yona;
Ndizihlekez’ ezo zitya
Zibunjwe ngodongwe.”
10 Yalekani bokumkani,
Niqiqe bagwebi;
11 Mkonzeni u-Yehova,
Eyekoyikw’ i-Nkosi.
Gcobani, tu tumelani
Ube myol’ umbuso.
12 ‘Msindo Wak’ ungekayuti
Mangen’ u-Nyana.
Hlez’ anitshabalalise,
Esazel’ ingqumbo
Nina nisese ndleleni
Yoku libazisa
Kubavukel’ isabelo,
Lutshabalaliso.
Hay’ uyolo Kodwa Kwabo
Bazimela Ngaye.
4 He that in heaven sits shall laugh;
The Lord shall scorn them all.
5 Then shall he speak to them in wrath,
In rage he vex them shall.
6 Yet, notwithstanding, I have him
To be my King appointed;
And over Sion, my holy hill,
I have him King anointed.
7 The sure decree I will declare;
The Lord hath said to me,
Thou art mine only Son; this day
I have begotten thee.
8 Ask of me, and for heritage
The heathen I’ll make thine;
And for possession I to thee
Will give earth’s utmost line.
9 Thou shalt, as with a weighty rod
Of iron, break them all;
And, as a potter’s sherd, thou shalt
Them dash in pieces small.
10 Now therefore, kings, be wise; be
taught,
Ye judges of the earth:
11 Serve God in fear, and see that ye
Join trembling with your mirth.
12 Kiss ye the Son, lest in his ire
Ye perish from the way
If once his wrath begin to burn:
Bless’d all that on him stay.
St. Bartholomew’s Day.—The Knox Club have done a good work in issuing Illustrations of Anti-Christ’s Rejoicing over the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. The Church of Rome has been guilty of many acts of bloodshed and cruelty, but the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day is one of the blackest in history. It is therefore no wonder that in former times many Roman Catholic writers endeavour to show that their Church had nothing to do with this diabolical and sanguinary massacre, but the evidence brought forward in this pamphlet is an indictment of the most damaging kind. The illustrations are accompanied by notes from the pen of Dr. Hay Fleming, explanatory and historical. “The Order of the Most Solemn Procession made by the Pope in the August City of Rome when the most happy news came of the destruction of the Huguenot Sect” is a shameless document, and throws a lurid light on Rome’s attitude to the perpetrating this cruel deed of savagery.