THE following letter was recently received by the Rev. J. R. Mackay, M.A., Inverness, and will be read with interest:—
F.P. MISSION, BEMBESI,
MATABELELAND, SOUTH AFRICA, 19th Jan., 1915.
MY DEAR MR. MACKAY,—I received your letter of the 30th November and was very glad to hear from you again. You will see from Mr. Henderson’s memo. that they have already printed the first twenty-four Psalms in Kaffir metre in booklet form, and have sent me five hundred copies, price £6 5s., as you will see from his memo. I am also sending you a copy, as I do not know whether one has been sent to you or not. Mr. Henderson thinks that we might have the complete book about the end of the year. I am forwarding to you the account which I would like you to pay to Mr. Henderson at Lovedale as soon as possible. Mr. Henderson thinks that these ought to be sold for 6d. each, and so I am going to sell them for that price. I do not think it would be wise for me to distribute them freely, as the people have always been used to buying their Hymn-books. And I think that all those of our people who can read will buy them, but the majority of the old people cannot read ; these are benefitted by the reading of “the line.” Please let me know what am I to do with the money of those that are sold.
I mentioned in my last letter to Mr. Cameron that we had opened another preaching place at Chief Mhlahlolo’s kraal, about five miles from Ngwenya, and we have commenced to build there a large square hut for a church. The Chief’s youngest brother, named Kiwa Mhlahlolo, is attending our school here. He has been with us for over two years. He is able to read the native language well, and has already received his Kaffir Bible, and is now about to complete No. II. English Reader. I am glad to say also that he has lately been converted, and seems to be a very promising boy. He is about eighteen years old. He seems to be very fond of his Bible. You will find him always reading it. He is very anxious to go to Lovedale to study as a teacher in connection with our Church. He has asked me several times if I could not send him to Lovedale, and I have explained to him that I was not in a position to pay for him at Lovedale. And I thought I would write to you, and ask you if our Church could not support him at Lovedale for about three years, as his people are heathens and are unable to support him even here. I have to supply him with food and clothing and buy his books as well, as I have always kept several boys in our Mission at my own expense in food and clothing and schooling, with the hope that they might be of some use to us as teachers in the outstations, as you yourself saw when you were here. The school fees at Lovedale are, £12, £15, or £20 a year according to table, besides 12s. or 15s. for books. These fees include board and lodging. There is a first, second, and third class table. The first session begins from February to June ; the second from July to December. The railway fare from Bembesi to Lovedale is £4 14s. It is customary for the Churches here to send their students to the Cape Colony to be trained as teachers, as there are no facilities for training students here.
Chief Sigogo, Ngege’s eldest son, and his wife still attend the services very regularly ; and that man you baptized too, and the two women are still as regular as ever ; they have set a very good example in the kraal where they are living by their walk and conversation noticeable even to heathens living around them. I must now conclude with kindest regards to you and to Mrs. Mackay. I shall be very glad to get a copy of the two discourses you are about to deliver about the War.—Yours sincerely,
J. B. RADASI.
P.S.—I also got the 10s. you sent from a friend. Kindly thank that friend for me.
J. B. R.