uest for a spot of ground on which to found a mission
station; days, weeks, and months passed, during which the missionaries
suffered great hardships; and at last the chief broke up his camp and
left them, without oxen to draw their waggons, saying that he would send
people to guide them to the spot where they were to settle, and at which
place he would join them later on.

His conduct seemed strange, and Moffat began to suspect that he had
repented of giving his permission for the missionaries to settle with
him. This proved to be the case; the Boer inroads, following as they had
done, in several cases, the advent of the missionaries, made him
suspicious, and the fears of himself and people having been aroused, the
question was in debate as to whether the settlement should be allowed or
not.

At last a favourable change took place, the clouds dispersed, and the
sky became clear. Oxen were sent to take the missionary waggons forward
to Inyati, there to join Moselekatse. All was settled, a spot which
looked well for a station was pointed out, each of the new-comers
pitched his tent under a tree that he had chosen, until a more solid
dwelling should be erected, and the Matabele Mission was fairly
established. This was in December, 1859.

The Mission was established, but work had only begun. The first six
months of the year 1860 were months of incessant toil to the
missionaries at Inyati. Houses had to be built, waggons repaired, and
garden ground made ready for cultivation. Early and late, Moffat was to
be found at work,--in the saw-pit, at the blacksmith's forge, or
exercising his skill at the carpenter's bench; in all ways aiding and
encouraging his younger companions. He also endeavoured to gain
Moselekatse's consent to the opening of regular communication with the
Livingstone expedition on the Zambesi _via_ Matabeleland, but the
suspicious nature of the monarch foiled this project. The isolation of
his country in this direction was so great that, although but a
comparatively short distance away, no tidings whatever could be obtained
of the other party who, under Mr. Helmore, had gone to the Makololo
tribe.

In June, 1860, Moffat felt that his work at Inyati was done. He had
spared neither labour of mind nor body in planting the Mission, and had
endured hardships at his advanced age that younger men might well have
shrunk from. The hour approached for him to bid a final farewell to
Moselekatse, and once more he dr