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2 There is an engaging Mpondo oral tradition about European missionaries coming to live in Faku’s kingdom. Allegedly, Faku’s mother advised him to fetch missionaries to pray for peace in Eastern Pondoland where there had been war with the Zulu. As a result, Faku sent ten men to Grahamstown with elephants’ tusks as presents for the missionaries whom he hoped would come to his territory. During their journey, the safety of these envoys was ensured by an escort of fierce lions. After arriving at Grahamstown, the Mpondo men met with William Shaw, the missionary leader, who told them he wanted to work in “a place with many heathens” and agreed to send teachers to Pondoland. The missionaries who subsequently arrived in Faku’s country were first given land west of the Mzimvubu River where they built what is now called the Old Buntingville mission; eventually they moved east of that river and established Palmerton.1 It is obvious that not all the aspects of this story actually happened. Faku might have sent envoys to Grahamstown, but the reference to an escort of lions is probably symbolic of the importance of his request for missionaries. Interestingly, Faku’s mother did eventually become a Christian, but her role in the initial invitation of missionaries to the area is not confirmed by other evidence. In 1830 the colonial border was still far away from Faku’s territory, but the activities of white traders and raiders, along with their Wesleyan missionary associates, had made a strong impression on the Mpondo ruler. Fortunately, Faku’s defeat of the Qwabe in 1829 had solidified his developing alliance with the Wesleyans, and the king hoped that a white missionary near the Mpondo great place would discourage raids by colonial armies, white frontiersmen and neighbouring African states. As a result, in late April 1830 the Reverend William Shaw, director of the Wesleyan society in South Africa, travelled to the Mpondo Kingdom to Missionaries, Colonial Officials and Mpondo Power (1830-36) Notes to chapter 2 are on pp. 177–79. 33 introduce Faku to his new missionary, the Reverend William B. Boyce, who had just arrived from England. Since Faku had sent messages of complaint to the Wesleyans about the length of time it was taking to send him a missionary, Shaw pointed to Boyce and said, “You said last year that I did not intend to bring you a teacher; here is the proof of my truth, see him.” Faku replied by stating that Boyce “must come soon,” and it was agreed that the location of the mission would be determined by the Mpondo king and that it would be established in three months. Shaw and Boyce then returned to Grahamstown, where the latter began receiving instruction in the Xhosa language and gathered supplies.2 On the twenty-second of November 1830 Boyce, accompanied by the Tainton family, returned to the Mpondo Kingdom and was directed to a ridge overlooking the Dangwana stream, which was near, but not in sight of, Faku’s great place between the two Mngazi rivers. Two days later, Faku and fifty of his subordinate rulers visited their new missionary. After slaughtering a cow in the king’s honour, Boyce presented Faku with a number of gifts, including a blue cloak, an iron cooking pot, a black ox and numerous beads and buttons. The Mpondo ruler then promised that he would establish a cattle kraal near the mission so “that we may be one house and our cattle graze together under the same herders.” With this meeting the Wesleyan mission was officially recognized by Faku; Boyce named it Buntingville, in honour of the Reverend Doctor Bunting who had been a founder of the Wesleyan Society. At this time Faku was particularly relieved to have a missionary living within his territory, as earlier in the year Dingane’s Zulu had unsuccessfully raided Ncaphayi’s Bhaca, Mpondo allies who were living on the upper Mzimvubu River, in search of the cattle which had been captured from Nqeto’s migrant Qwabe.3 Faku wanted to gain accurate information on the powerful Cape Colony that had so easily dispossessed the Xhosa chiefdoms on its borders and destroyed Matiwane’s Ngwane on the upper Mtata River. Consequently, around the beginning of December 1830 Faku directed Jiqwa, one of his “confidential servants,” to accompany Boyce’s wagon back to Grahamstown, where it was to pick up more supplies for the new mission. Returning to the Mpondo great place...

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