which we could procure food
in countries where money has no value. We had no intention of
establishing ourselves within the limits of the Transvaal; we were going
beyond the Limpopo, and consequently were simple travellers, and were
not legally required to take any steps in regard to the Government, nor
even to ask a passport. All this was written down and addressed to the
Executive Committee, who took the matter in hand.

"As they, however, accused us of being smugglers, and having somewhere
a cannon, they proceeded to the examination of my waggon. They opened
everything, ran their hands in everywhere, into biscuit boxes, among
clothes, among candles, etc., and found neither cannon nor petroleum.
The comedy of the smuggling ended, they took note of the contents of my
boxes, and then attacked us from another side. They decided to treat me
as a missionary. The Solicitor-General said to me that the Government
did not care to have French missionaries going to the other side of the
Limpopo. I said, 'these countries do not belong to the Transvaal;' to
which they replied, 'Do you know what our intentions are? Have you not
heard of the treaties which we have been able to make with the natives
and with the Portuguese?' There! that is the reply which they made to
me. They took good care not to inscribe it in the document in which they
ordered us to leave the Transvaal immediately. These are things which
they do not care to write, lest they should awaken the just
susceptibilities of other Governments, or arouse the indignation of all
true Christians. But there is the secret of the policy of the Transvaal
in regard to us missionaries; they feared us, because they know our
attachment to the natives, and our devotion to their interests.

"They then ordered me to retrace at once my steps, threatening
confiscation of our goods and the imprisonment of our persons if we
attempted to force a passage through the country. I had to pay L14
sterling for the expenses of this mock trial. They brought the four
native Evangelists out of the prison where they had spent two nights and
a day in a very unpleasant manner; they gave me leave to take our two
waggons out of the square of the Hotel de Ville where they had been put,
together with the Transvaal Artillery, some pieces of ordnance, a large
Prussian cannon and a French mitrailleuse from Berlin.

"We were free, we were again united, but what a sorrowful reunion! We
could hardly believe that