Eerwaarde Francis Owen is in 1837 na Zoeloeland gestuur deur die Church Missionary Society in London om ‘n sendingstasie by die kraal van die Zoeloe koning Dingaan te stig. Voor 1837 was die American Board Missionary Society van Nieu-Engeland van plan om ‘n sendingstasie te vestig by die koninklike kraal, Mgungundlovu. Dingaan het egter nie die Amerikaanse sendelinge toegelaat om so na aan sy kraal te bou nie, en stuur hul na ‘n ligging vier dae se ry te ossewa. Owen en sy gesin word egter toegelaat om hul op ‘n koppie bo die kraal te vestig en ‘n vriendelike verhouding ontwikkel tussen die sendeling en die koning. Dingaan is egter meer geïnteresseerd daarin om skietkuns te bemeester as om van geloof te leer.

Die uitbreiding van Westerse kolonisasie kom al nader aan Dingaan se wêreld. Engelse handelaars vestig hulself reeds by Port Natal (vandag bekend as Durban) tydens die heerskappy van sy voorganger, koning Shaka, en kort voor lank baan sendelinge hul weg na sy koninkryk. Die sendelinge kom in klein getalle en word dus nie as ‘n bedreiging gesien nie. In 1837 bereik die Voortrekkers Natal en hulle probeer vasstel of hulle leë land suid van die Tugela rivier kan bewoon. Hul leier, Piet Retief, ontmoet Dingaan en is onder die indruk dat Dingaan bereid is om oor grond te onderhandel, met die voorwaarde dat Retief beeste wat van die Zoeloes gesteel is deur Sekonyela, sal terugkry. Retief keer in Februaie 1838 terug na Mgungundlovu, vergesel deur ongeveer sewentig mans en dertig diensknegte, met die doel om die onderhandelinge met die koning van die Zoeloes te finaliseer. Op 4 Februarie word ‘n verdrag deur die twee leiers geteken.

Dingaan gee die bevel om Piet Retief en sy geselskap te vermoor (deur Richard Caton Woodville, Jr)

Op 6 Februarie word eerwaarde Francis Owen deur ‘n boodskapper van Dingaan ingelig van ‘n plan om die Retief-groep te vermoor, maar dat die sendelinge nie beseer sal word nie. Voor Owen Retief kon waarsku, aanskou hy en sy gesin op ‘n afstand die gebeure. In sy dagboek skryf hy dieselfde dag nog wat hy gesien het en hoe hy gevoel het as enigste blanke ooggetuie van die slagting.

Hierdie publikasie bevat Owen se dagboek-inskrywings wat gereeld na die hoofkwartiere van die Church Missionary Society in Londen gestuur is. Die inskrywings begin op 2 Maart 1837 wanneer hy, sy vrou en haar suster in Tafelbaai land, en eindig in November 1854 wanneer hulle Kaapstad verlaat om terug te keer na hul tuisland. Hulle vestig hul in Desember 1837 by Dingaan se kraal met die doel om ‘n sendingstasie te stig en bly daar tot 11 Februarie 1838, waarna hulle na Port Natal trek. Hy behou kontak met Dingaan tot hy Port Natal in 1839 verlaat. Owen het sonder twyfel een van die bekendste beskrywings van die daaglikse lewe in Dingaan se kraal geskryf.

Na hy Port Natal verlaat, bly Owen tot 1854 in Suid-Afrika terwyl hy sy sendingwerk voortsit in ander dele van die land asook in Betsjoeanaland (vandag bekend as Botswana). Sy dagboek word nou vir die eerste keer in een volume uitgegee, behalwe vir die Betsjoeanaland-afdeling wat herskryf moes word om geskiedenis in te sluit, maar teologie uit te laat.

Redakteur

Sir George Cory was professor emeritus van Rhodes Universiteitskollege en Genoot van die Royal Historical Society, Londen.

UITTREKSEL UIT DIE TEKS

110 Owen’s Diary.

[…] Missionaries. He then gave an order, that no one in furture, neither man nor woman should go to be taught, and that the children should not go and learn to sew. Mr. Venable intended coming to see the king in this business, but yesterday morning about 10, four messengers arrived who had been travelling all night from the capital, in order to bring James Brownlee, the Interpreter, to interpret for the king. They said that William as well as Mr. Hully, my own Interpreter, were not here and that Thos. Halstead, the Boers Interpreter was at Capt. Gardiner’s, a palpable lie, for he was here when the messenger left on Sunday evening, and I tremble to say is now amongst the number of the slain: so the natives to say tho’ Dingarns servant this morning informed me he was not to be killed. The reason for this call from James Brownlee is mysterious, he is a boy and the king likes him; for what end he should have sent in so unaccountable a manner and with such haste is surprising. On Mr. V’s arrival he was surprised to see the Boer guns under the trees and the natives handling them freely, but they themselves not to be found, but described as having gone a hunting, etc. At length Umthlela the Indoona told him that the Boers were killed. Mr. Venable made no reply, and the savage, remorseless Indoona asked him if he did not thank the king for having killed them. Before this conversation, Mr. V. had told him for what purpose he had come to see the king, and Umthlela had asked him what they wanted to teach. Being told the “Book,” he asked, cannot you teach us to shoot, or to ride? At length our friend left and came to the station where as he saw no one about as usual he ex­pected to find us also gone. Our conversation has been partly on the wisest course to be adopted in the present exigency. We agree that we have no security for life. The man who brings our milk informs us that the army went out to-day against the Boers. We tremble for the result. In the evening the king sent to me for some medicine to heal a man who had been wounded by a spear in a quarrel with another Zoolu.

Feb. 7th.—In the morning two Indoonas with an attendant called. One of them patted his breast, a common gesti­culation of friendship. No Indoona had ever been to the station before and they asked to see the hut, waggon, etc. They were remarkably civil. They had been sent by the king to inform me that it was not his intention to kill either me or the other missionaries, for we had come into his country by fews and fews : he could live in peace with us, for we were his people. All George’s people, meaning the British were his, i.e., he liked them, but the Amaboro were not his people: nor where they George’s. He said that all the armies that came into his country should be killed, that the Amaboro (Boers) were going to kill the king: they had come like an army and had fallen into a passion with him. Many other causes were then assigned for their slaughter, as that they had not brought Sinkoyella and his people prisoners. Some of the other reasons I could not well understand nor did I trouble myself about them as there was but one true reason, the dread of their power and that the whole was a premedi­tated preconcerted plan of Dingarn who was anxious to see in order that he might butcher them all at once, I cannot now have a reasonable doubt, tho’ I could not imagine previously that his designs were so treacherous. The thought frequently entered my mind but I rejected it. I said little in reply to the king. I remarked that I had come into his country only to teach the Book: that I was not a fighting person, as those who taught the Book in my country did not handle the gun.

I did not give an adequate description of the dreadful carnage yesterday. I omitted to state that many of the Boers had children with them, some under 11 years of age, as I am informed, as these were all butchered. They also had their Hottentot servants and these were likewise slaugh­tered besides their Interpreter and his servant. The number of slain must have been nearer a hundred than sixty, but if there had been ten hundred it would have been all the same. Dingarn afterwards sent for Mr. Venable and his interpreter. He set the latter to unhalter some of his newly acquired horses which were knee haltered. As he never possessed a horse before, none of his own people were as yet adequate to this office. The usual messenger who comes to the station was thrown yesterday and seriously injured, nevertheless, he was obliged to come this morning, tho’ apparently in great pain. When the above task was performed the sun was too hot: the king went into his hut and there was no con­versation. The thermometer to-day in our hut is at 101o, higher that it has ever been. In the evening, Mr. Venable went down again to the king. He professed that he had given orders that Thos. Halstead, the Boers interpreter, should be saved, but his people were not able to distinguish him. This is Dingarn’s usual method when he does a thing of which he is ashamed, he throws the odium of it upon his people. So he professed great surprise that Mungo should have prohibited the people from attending the teaching, and said he should send a messenger to him. He lamented that the Port Natal people should be afraid of him and said that they had built a fort. He observed that Capt. Gardiner and he had fallen out. He said that he should never send us away or drive us out, but if at any time the teachers should […]