UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL STUDIES
Destruction of Cape San (Bushman) Society

The hunter-gatherer communities of the Cape Colony were almost entirely destroyed as a result of pervasive settler violence under both Dutch and British colonial rule. Some scholars argue that the land dispossession, enforced labour incorporation, periodic massacre, and suppression of their culture inflicted on the San constitute genocide. While developments through the 18th century have been reasonably thoroughly documented, our knowledge of the 19th century is patchy because little research has been done on this period.

RESEARCH TOPIC:

MONIQUE CLASSEN
CLSMON002

The ‘Christianization’ process of the London Missionary Society in 19th century South Africa: A case study of Bethelsdorp and Thornberg

Contents PLAGIARISM DECLARATION 2 ABSTRACT 3 INTRODUCTION 4 THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY 7 Driving Ideologies Behind An Archetype of Civility and Modernity 9 THE ‘CHRISTIANIZATION’ STATIONS 11 The Institute of Bethelsdorp for the Khoekhoe 11 Thornberg Mission Station for the Heathen San 17 THE GROUNDWORK 21 CONCLUSION 26 BIBLIOGRAPHY 28

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Village of Bethelsdorp (from John Philip: Researchers in South Africa, London 1828)

2. Church and Mission House at Bethelsdorp (from a watercolor by John Campbell, 1819.)
By courtesy of Africana Museum, Johannesburg

3. Map: Nineteenth-Century Mission Stations to Bushmen (from Tricksters and Trancers, 1999)

4. Erasmus Smith (from Christianity in South Africa: A Political, Social, and Cultural History, 1997)

PLAGIARISM DECLARATION

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PLAGIARISM DECLARATION
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This essay/report/project is my own work.
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I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing it off as his or her own work
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ABSTRACT

When many reflect about the destruction of the Cape San within South Africa, the first in thought is that of genocide. Many scholarly and academic articles have been affiliated to the physical extermination of the Cape San, yet however overlook the cultural destruction of the Cape San’s unique culture itself. Christian missionary activity had been central to the work of European colonialism, not only had it provided the missionaries and their supporters with a sense of justice, but the power of a moral authority. Throughout the history of British imperial expansion, missionary proselytizing offered the British public a model of ‘civilized’ expansionism and colonial community management, transforming imperial projects into moral allegories, as in the Cape San Bushmen (Hottentots, Boschemen). Missionary activity implied either covert or explicit cultural change towards the indigenous population of a new colonial project. In its purest form, it sought to transform indigenous communities into imperial archetypes of civility and modernity through the process of acculturation. It remodeled the individual, the community and the state through Western, Christian philosophies. Whilst colonialism established itself within the boundaries of South Africa, Cape Town specifically, this Christianization process was a crucial part of the colonizing projects of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

INTRODUCTION

This paper will attempt to reveal the ‘civilizing’ program of the London Missionary Society (L.M.S) of the Cape San Bushmen of Southern Africa. The L.M.S had been particularly established to intervene directly in the lives of the native ‘heathens’ of the world, and specifically to ‘spread the knowledge of Christ among the heathen and other unenlightened nations’. This article focuses on two mission stations established by L.M.S missionaries: Bethelsdorp (Village of Bethel), predominantly Khoekhoe and Thornberg (Toornberg/Grace Hill, Vanderwalt’s Fountain) predominantly San. The missionary station of Bethelsdorp, established in November 1801with Johannes Theodosius Vanderkemp as the missionary in charge, along with Mr. Erasmus Smith heading Thornberg mission station were driven by a strong desire to genuinely serve humanity and bring about social and material changes which would improve the ‘heathen’s’ quality of life.The activities of the missionaries manifested itself in the involvement in local agriculture, irrigation and technology. Also, it sought to impose an alien morality and work ethos upon the Cape San peoples without realizing that these undermined their (The Cape San and Khoekhoe) most basic social and cultural tenets. This paper, therefore, attempts to uncover the ideologies instilled by the British missionaries over the Cape San, to not only explore its successes and difficulties, but to account for the practical reasoning of the ‘civilizing’ program. In using Bethelsdorp and Thornberg as case studies this paper attempts to uncover the link between missionary ideology and its practical work on the ground. It reveals how the Cape San culture was destroyed through the works of the L.M.S’s strategies of assimilating not only the San, but in addition the Khoekhoe into an archetype European society.However, as Elizabeth Elbourne notes, Khoekhoe, so called mixed-race individuals and the enslaved all proved more interested in Christianity than either San or the Xhosa, at the time of missionary work. In addition, as Elizabeth Elbourne argues in her book Blood Ground:Colonialism, Missions, and the Contest for Christianity in the Cape Colony and Britain, 1799-1853, Khoekhoe and their (often multi-ethnic)descendants used Christianity in a cornucopia of ways. She also considers how Khoekhoe used Christianity to embody their own religious beliefs- the incorporation of Khoekhoe religious behavior into the new form of Christianity, the material functions of mission stations, and Khoekhoe uses of Christianity to claim status in colonial society. This might be one clue as to why acculturation or assimilation had been much more effective within the Khoekhoe communities, that the San Bushmen. However, Mohamed Adhikari’sThe Anatomy of a South African Genocide: The Extermination of the Cape San Peoples, suggests that the San too adopted and adapted to elements of Christianity into their open-ended and flexible belief system without necessarily becoming converts. He suggests that even though many San attached themselves, often temporarily to mission stations, few did so for spiritual reasons. He’s work suggest mission stations mainly as places of refuge for the San, from the dangers of the frontier life and as resources to be exploited for whatever it might yield.Along with missionaries and empire, come arguments about what the meaning of “civilization” was, and what were its political implications. As Elbourne remarks that the early nineteenth century L.M.S missionaries were important practitioners of this type of politics, and such debates rages throughout Britain and South Africa. She notes that in part this process legitimized and domesticated empire for many in Britain.
Being that Thornberg station is regarded as the most successful of those stations established specifically for San societies historian MilkosSzalay claims its success however short in the years 1814-1818 due to its considerable progress in growing towards an archetype European society.Bethelsdorp station led by Dr.Vanderkemp, bearing in mind that each missionary established their own individual ways in running their ‘institutes’ provides a clear reference to what was expected within the station, how it sought to be run, and what its establishment aimed to achieve.Vanderkemp’s main priority was first to prepare the heathens for the conversion, salvation, or even, more specifically evangelically, heaven.Yet, despite Vanderkemp’s whole-hearted giving, the Institute at Bethelsdorp was said to be defined as a failure. A set of characteristics came to be associated with Bethelsdorp. As late as 1970, the Standard Encyclopedia of South Africa fumed under ‘Bethelsdorp’: ‘Van der Kemp and Read had failed to teach their converts to do manual work so as to be self-supporting, and consequently the farmers in the vicinity were much troubled by the people of ‘Bedelaarsdorp’ (beggers village). Nevertheless, although with this perceptions of Bethelsdorp from the outside, on the inside Bethelsdorp attained a good reputation for their missionary work, which will be discussed. Nevertheless, Mr. Erasmus Smit was perhaps not the most suitable leader for Thornberg as suggested by historian Jane Sales, as when things got tense he would simply run away. Smit was a Dutchman who had been sent to South Africa in 1905 by the Netherlands Missionary society, however, in 1906 the Netherland Society ceased to support Smit and others due to its capitulation, the London Missionary Society therefore acquired Smit and others for their won missionary work. The program for Smit at Thornberg differs that he focused more in preparing the heathens in agriculture. Nonetheless, both Thornberg and Bethelsdorp mission stations were under the control L.M.S missionaries, by combining the two stations, this paper illustrates why the need for cultural assimilation was aspired by these British missionaries, and how their, along with the L.M.S’s aspirations of cultural assimilation established itself on the indigenous populations of South Africa.
THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY

Founded in 1795, the Society was an offshoot of the Evangelical Revival of the 18th century and thus a part of a general Protestant renewal of Western Europe which sought to combat the prevailing current of rationalism and the resultant breakdown, fancied or otherwise, of traditional society. The Society’s Fundamental Principle, formulated in 1796, stated that’s its design was ‘to send out not, Presbyterians, Independency, Episcopacy, or any other form of Church Order and Government…but the Glorious Gospel of the blessed God…’; and not only to the ‘heathen and other unenlightened nations’ but to ‘the whole human race’ were deemed proper material for religious instruction. When the L.M.S embarked their first set of missionaries to the Cape in 1799, their ultimate goal was the complete liberation of the indigenous people from servitude and their elevation to social and political equality with the white European population at the Cape. In the opinion of the L.M.S, mission stations would become superfluous once the local population had adapted to European ways of life and attained equal possibilities and rights as the colonists. Also, the transmission or inculcation of European culture, which the missions took on as its task- even those things of purely material nature, was related to this emancipatory goal.For the L.M.S, adaptation to European ways of life was regarded as the most important pre-requisite for the attainment of political and legal equality with the white population. Henceforth, the San would have to adjust to the culture transmitted by Christian missions in order to prove they were capable of facing the Europeans challenge, along with their progression towards a ‘civilized’ nation. It was the belief of the Society, that once the San and other indigenous societies had assimilated European thought patterns, knowledge and attitudes; they would only then be considered as equals to the colonists and thereafter would be thought of as equals to the latter as such. The key function of the missionary in the conquest of indigenous peoples is supplied by Dr.Philip himself; the Superintendent of the L.M.S. The Preface to his ‘Researchers in South Africa’ contains the following statement:
“While our missionaries are everywhere scattering the seeds of civilization…they are extending British interests, British influences and the British Empire…Wherever the missionary places his standard among a savage tribe, their prejudices against the colonial government give way; their dependence upon the colony is increased by the creation of artificial wants…Industry, trade and agriculture spring up.”
It is clear the L.M.S sought desperately to help the indigenes in Enlightment and modernity, and to eradicate their savage ways. Thus one may ask why this desire, why feel the need to change or mould an indigenous society whom are content with their traditions and lifestyles. In order to understand this need for British humanitarianism, it leads to the focus of the beliefs and ideologies of the nature of the L.M.S.
Driving Ideologies Behind An Archetype of Civility and Modernity
It is debated upon that with colonialism, the colonizers feel obligated to justify their rule in a European idiom. Fischer-Tine and Mann both agree with the above in their book Colonialismas Civilizing Mission: Cultural Ideology in British India, the most powerful tool of self-legitimization was the colonizer’s claims to improve the country and to bring about the fruits of progress and modernity to the subject people. Nevertheless, this concept of legitimization is vital in keeping within conscious for the following as it provides some sought of train of thought within British minds at the time. As Jared McDonald states, ‘Christianization’ adaptations occurred on two fronts- the spiritual front, and what he terms as the material which relates to modes of subsistence and survival strategies adopted by the San and Khoekhoe. Hence, to substantiate this claim made by McDonald, one may interpret this exact notion of Christianization in Rev.T.D. Philip’sChristianity Modifying National Character, written in the Chronicle of the L.M.S (1870). Rev. Philip speaks about modifying the national character of the ‘heathen’ in relation to three concepts, namely; temperament, capacity, and habits. He writes about the expectation to what extent Christianity may change the national character of such races. With regards to a heathen nation, Rev Philip’s believes a man’s temperament (personality) is dependent upon the physical frame with which he has been given when born into the world. He claims that this temperament of which a heathen is born into is indicative of the lives they live. He claims that their present physical character may be the result of certain evil habits; irregular, scanty, and innutritious food, and neglecting of sanitary precautions. By this Rev. Philip writes that Christianity may not be able to correct such evils, but it can; however, tend to remove through sifting it from the physical development of a race. By this, the intention behind this attempt to rid the heathen of their evil habits, which is claimed that, they, the heathens are born into, what Rev. Philips entails that by ridding them of such evils as dirtiness and choice of nutrition (food), by modifying their basic necessities and steering them away from such evils, their lives and physical development will alter for the good of their futures. The second concept Rev. Philip speaks of is intellectual capacity. He notes quite clearly that the African mental capacity is inferior to that of Europeans, as Europeans constantly engage within an intellectual atmosphere which fosters the growth of their minds and stimulates it energies.Therefore the importance of education upon a heathen society is significant. Thus Rev Philip’s seems to believe that as nations grow together; their growth is dependent upon the individual’s intellectual mind, which in turn is influenced by the general spirit of the people,which Christianity may provide the initial stimulus for the individual and therefore the nation. Henceforth, what Rev. Philip means, Christianity may allow for the heathen to enter into an intellectual stimulus, much like that of the European, to foster growth and in future allow the heathen the opportunity to intellectual stimulus for the bettering of their future. This further promoted his sentiments of the heathen habits. As habits are linked to one’s intellectual capacity, as Rev. Phillip implies, if it were not for national habits, the evils of the nation could be corrected in the first generation rising after the adoption by the people of Christianity as a creed. This belief in particular coincides with the concept of the ‘ideal child’ which would encompass the progress towards an ‘ideal adult’. He adds that even the younger generations are no exception from this notion, yet are even more affected by the example and spirit of those amongst whom they are living. Nevertheless, Rev.Phillip states that Christianity can do but little to correct a heathen nation’s habits, but however found within the society in which the converts are placed. Anyhow, missionaries have attempted to correct these evil habits by furnishing their converts with land, promoting cultivation to their converts, instructing them in handicrafts, urging the erection of infrastructure, upon many situations which promoted civilized habits.
THE ‘CHRISTIANIZATION’ STATIONS
The Institute of Bethelsdorp for the Khoekhoe
Figure 1: Village of Bethelsdorp 1828

Upon arrival at the Cape in 1799, Dr. Vanderkemp and his colleague Mr.Edmonds travelled to Kaffirland where they attempted to establish a missionary station near Gaika’s Kraal. Despite many hardships and difficulties, Dr.Vanderkemp resided there for over a year before moving to Graaf-Reinet to instruct Hottentots in Christianity. It was then in 1801 when the Governor of the Cape instructed LanddrostBresler of Graaf-Reinet to choose a suitable piece of land in the Algoa Bay region for a temporary Hottentot location to be managed by the L.M.S. under the leadership of Dr.Vanderkemp. However, it was not until May 31st that Dr.Vanderkemp could begin his missionary activity at this location, which at his request was given the name of Bethelsdorp or the Village of Bethel, the proposed Hottentot settlement, which was to be the first of its kind in the Algoa Bay area.The principles upon which the new settlement was to be based are set forth at length in a letter from Vanderkemp to GovernorDundas, dated February 11, 1801. These are 13 in number; but the most important regarding the institute, were the following:-The first highlights the purpose of the establishment for the missionary, and also reflects the intention of religious and cultural conversions of the London Missionary Society for the Hottentots.
“2. The chief object and aim of the missionaries under whose direction this settlement shall be established ought to be to promote the knowledge of Christ and the practice of real piety, both by instruction and example, among the Hottentots and other heathen, who shall be admitted and formed into a regular society; and, in the second place, the temporal happiness and usefulness of this society, with respect to the country at large.”

The following two principles highlight exactly who is in charge (the missionaries), and by which means the Hottentots may be accepted into the institute. It illustrates that the San would only be allowed into the boundaries of the Institute if they accepted the missionaries as their ‘teachers, masters or rules’ in a sense. Evidently, it shows the power of the missionary himself to judge the San’s behavior, and thus the ‘power’ in which they have on the lives of the San within the confined borders of the Institute.
“3. Into this society only those ought to be admitted who will engage themselves to live according to the rules of the institute.”
“4. The actual admission and expulsion from this society shall entirely depend upon the judgment of the missionaries.”
The missionary expects the formation of an independent economic community, one which will then be able to blend in with a western economic system, according to the principle numbered 6 and 7. It also makes the notion of a ‘survival rule’. I say this with the meaning of, if a Hottentot is not economically valuable and effective, they are in retrospect not helping the funding of the Institute, therefore, in the missionaries eyes, not working towards the greater good of their civility and survival, then therefore they are excluded from the Institute (which combining the previous principle of the Society).
“6. As we are of opinion that the rule laid down by Paul ‘ that if any would not work, neither should he eat’ ought to be strictly observed in every Christian society, our intention is to discourage idleness and laziness; and to have the individuals of our institute, as much as circumstances shall admit, employed in different useful occupations, for the cultivations of their rational facilities, or exercise of the body, as means of subsistence, and of promoting the welfare of this society, and the colony at large.”
“7. As the introduction of these employment will involve the European missionary societies in considerable expenses, the workmen should be considered as journeymen in the service of the society, and be paid weekly for their labour, but the products of their labors should be the property of the society and sold for its benefits.”
Thus, if proved ‘invaluable’ and incapable of a satisfactory behavior according to the judgment of the missionary, they may be punished. The following principle, in my objective, proves contradictory. Those whom do not confine to the rules of the Institute are handed over to the very people or government, whom they are running from, and whom the Missionaries themselves are opposed to in order to be punished. In an objective sense, this notion of punishment, in my opinion, is likely and was likely to be used as a tool to keep the indigenous society at bay. Shall one say a scare tactic, as the San were being exterminated and the Khoekhoe being attacked. This sole principle may be the most significant factor in how the missionary at Bethelsdorp achieved its great successes over its years of establishment. It proves even more contradictory, as the 13th principle asks for protection for the missionaries. Protection from who?The government?Or other indigenous populations? Its vagueness promotes its conspicuous contradictory nature. “10. We have no severe punishment that excommunication from the Church and expulsion from the society. If we shall be compelled to proceed to this last step, we shall think it our duty to inform the landdrost of the fact, that justice may be administered by the court to whose cognizance the crime belongs, and no malefactor find shelter within our walls.”
“13. As to the protection which we may expect from your Excellency, we entirely trust to your Excellency’s declared resolution to favor our missionary exertions, and request that we may enjoy the same protection and privileges which are granted to the (Moravian) Brethren at the Bavian’sKloof.”
Figure 2: Church and Mission House at Bethelsdorp, 1828
The rules and policies of the Institute and the L.M.S are outlined significantly within Dr. Vanderkemp’sprinciple’s for the establishment of Bethelsdorp. It provides the intentions of the missionaries to almost force the indigenes’ population into converting towards a more civil and modern society. An economically valuable and independent society, one which may reach maturity to combine to the Western rules of engagement. It stresses the vision for an archetype society, by which the indigenes would thereafter be seen as equals to Europeans. This significance of an explicit conversion of indigenous society into an archetype remains the central argument of this article; however, being that Bethelsdorp had been dominantly Khoekhoe population it provides the sentiments to which a general Institute or missionary society would be anticipated to run. During the period of 1808, the station housed 146 men, 211 women, 282 children, and had a total of 639 inhabitants.The station continued to prosper, whilst Dr.Vanderkemp took ill in 1811 and passed away on the eighth day of his illness, December 15th at the age of 63. Dormant for many months, Bethelsdorp attained a new leader. On the 20th March 1812, Rev. John Campbell arrived at the station and found many of the residents exercising businesses as smiths, carpenters, sawyers, basket- makers, brick-makers, thatchers, coopers, lime-builders, mat-manufacturers, stocking-making, and tailors. He observed cultivated fields extended two miles in length, both sides of the river, and had been informed that their cattle had increased from 218 to 2206, and that from 300 to 400 calves had been produced in a year, of which not more than 50 had been slaughtered within the same space of time. The annual meeting of the London Missionary Society which took place May 9th 1816, states the following, “This settlement is rightly named; it has proved to hundred of souls, no other than a Brethel- the house of God, and the gate of heaven.” The inhabitants prospered dearly with an inhabitant of 1200 people belong to the institute since its commencement. The report accounts as many as 422 adults baptized, 300 of whom had been added to the church the previous year, education flourished as nearly 50 children were able to read the Bible, write and cast accounts. Not to mention, that during these years the settlement continued as an almost archetype colonial community whereby the Khoekhoe had been paying taxes to the Government, contributed to the funds of the Society and have built their own expenses. Moreover, with this, Thornberg station which operated for only four years, with less information on how the society was run under Mr. Erasmus, achieves the simple nature of the achievements of an archetype society in which the L.M.S missionaries worked towards. Their dissolution was abrupt for reasons more than political. The Landdrost of Graaf-Reinet ordered that station’s closure was in fact due to its conclusion that it was ‘enticing tame Bushmen from the service of the colonists and created enmity between missionaries and the inhabitants of the colony.’
Thornberg Mission Station for the Heathen San
The records left by early missionaries, travelers, and historians gives clear evidence of seven (see figure 3) - and unclear evidence for another three- attempts at mission activity that targeted the Bushmen, either exclusively or primarily.
Figure 3: Nineteenth- Century Mission Stations to Bushmen

Out of these seven clear stations, Thornberg also known as Grace Hill is said by historian MilkosSzalay as the most successful of them all. Thornberg, established along with four other attempts undertaken in the Toverberg region commenced in 1814. Its story begins as follows: Mr. Campbell also fixed a spot near Vanderwalt’s Fountain, as an eligible place for a mission to the same barbarous people, and engaged to send a missionary to instruct them. It was estimated that around 500 Bushmen anxiously awaited the arrival of the promised teacher Mr. Erasmus Smith year 1814.Mr. Erasmus, accompanied by Mr. W.F. Corner, a native of Demerara, who had previously labored at Bethelsdorp, and who besides assisting Mr. Smith in the work of instruction, was capable of rendering valuable services in the capacity of artisan. Nevertheless, the missionaries along with the Bushmen encounters many problems and conflicts, however over time, Mr. Erasmus had been able to convinced the Bushmen at the station of his pure motives and thus could proceed with their work without interruption. Although this particular San mission station had only been active for a short period of time, therefore there are little transcripts of its acculturation programs. Moreover, despite this difficulty the information available allows for a viable and overall attempt at Thornberg’s successes.
Figure 4: Erasmus Smith
Thornberg’s San society had been offered with a comprehensive ‘civil program’ which included, in addition to agriculture and livestock-breeding, the building of houses and dams, and the laying-out of streets, sewing for girls and school education centering on literacy. The goal of Mr. Erasmus had primarily been to teach the San a productive economy in order to hold their own once incorporated into the colonial system, much like the program instilled within the Bethelsdorp Institute. Much emphasis was placed on farming and agriculture, not only for productive reasons, but in order to sift out the indigenous hunter-gatherer nature of consuming. Nonetheless, several types of grain were cultivated, gourds, potatoes, watermelons and vegetables.In the same year, 200 grape vines were planted, and the construction of a grain mill begun. Ploughs were introduced at all stations, as for the missionaries it was a symbol of civilization. Missionary James Read said at the founding of Hephzibah, “We take a plough with us. Let it be remembered that in Africa- the Bible and the plough go together”.The station continued to prosper which led to the change of name in September 1916.Mr. Read who visited this new prosperous station and was so pleased with its progress, stated the following: “on my arrival here I was much pleased with the appearance of things, which have taken a favorable turn, so that, instead of Thornberg, we agreed to call it Grace Hill.About three months ago God was pleased to pour out his spirit on the people here, first among the Oriams, and then among the poor Bushmen; seven of whom, including a captain, have been baptized.” Also, before the stations closing under the decree of the colonial government, Rev.A.Faure, a colonial clergyman who visited Thornberg wrote to Dr. Phillip of the station in 1818, “Here I found a beautiful garden, an excellent vineyard, fine wheat. Some Bushmen, whom Mr. Smith baptized, had acquires very rational ideas of the principle of the Christian religion…They were zealous in trying to convey the same inestimable blessings to their unhappy countrymen…It was delightful to hear the children sing the praises of Jehovah, and to witness the progress they made in spelling and reading.” Nonetheless, despites its early closure and initial discouragements, Thornberg proved successful in the minds of attempting to civilize the heathen San Bushmen. The Bushmen behaved very well and rejoiced at the instructions they received up until the stations closure. Moffat wrote of Thornberg, “And here a Christian church arose, extensive gardens were laid out, and these cultivated with the Bushman’s own hands.” Until the mission station closed by means of a decree, Thornberg stood firm- resisting the pressures of the colonists. The attacks of the colonists can be explained mainly by the fact that the presence of the station diminished the supply of Bushmen labor. Whilst the decree by the government can be explained in the view of, the government saw the role of the station was to serve the needs of the ‘wild Bushmen’. Yet, after two years after the dissolution of Thornberg Station on a trip in the northeastern region of the colony in 1820, Campbell came across some San farming who were members of the church at the station.This as a result of the inhabitants had reportedly been forced into the service of farming. A former inhabitant of Thornberg said, “Some months after Mr.Smit’s removal, the boors came and took possession of our fountains, chased us from the lands of Toverberg, and made us go and keep their sheep”.
It had been the opinion of the L.M.S that mission stations would become superfluous once the local populations had adapted to European ways of life and attained equal possibilities and rights as the colonists. Bethelsdorp and Thornberg despite its ebbs and flows succumbed to such a notion in its own unique way. The next section provides the clear links to this concept of civility and modernity. It wishes to display the links of L.M.S ideologies to the missionary activity taken upon these two stations.
THE GROUNDWORK

As it is fundamental for a missionary station to progress to success, it needed to have a steady flow of indigenes or even a large number of indigenous societies within its borders. The primary reason for these successes could be assumes as the L.M.S found itself in the middle of a war zone between colonists and indigenous populations. As historians Henry Bredekamp and Robert Ross puts it; societies in a state of profound crisis- dissolution even- are far more prone to seek new explanations and meanings systems, than are stable, well-functioning communities. With this, San societies are scattering further away from colonists, Khoekhoe societies are seeking refuge. Mission stations not only provided short-term refuge and safety, but had long-term attractions as a means to improve economic and social status. Bethelsdorp provided a long-term economic base from which a Khoekhoe laborer in the Eastern Cape could hire him/herself out, if financially pressed; whilst San ran to Thornberg to seek protection from danger or death. Nonetheless, mission stations attained their ‘targets of civilization’.
The basis of the ‘civilization and modernity’ program was the Christianization of heathens. I attain this position as with the historians J.LComaroff and J. Comaroff, which Christians were from a world were cultivation and salvation were explicitly linked- and joined together, more often than not, in a tangled mesh of horticultural imagery, much of it biblical in origin. Moreover, I must acknowledge Elizabeth Elbourne’s perspective on the missionary encounter, in which differs from Comaroff and Comaroff. Although these anthropologists use the Christian mission to explain how cultural modernity came to southern Africa, Elbourne investigates how converts used Christianity to adapt to a new world order. Yet, I remain on the Comoraff and Comoraff path. An example of the L.M.S’s evangelist sentiments towards by using John Mackenzie’s words at his ordination 1858: “ As to civilization and the temporal interests of the people, I conceive that I am furthering both when I preach the Gospel….In order to complete the work of elevating the people, we must teach them the arts of civilized life. If we exhort them to lay aside the sword for the ploughshare and the spear for the pruning-hook, we must be prepared to teach them to use the one with the same dexterity which they exhibited in wielding the other…[W]e must teach them to till their own land, sow and reap own crops, build their own barns.” This statement inexplicitly links the notion of modernity to economic success. Even more so, the plough as a symbolism for civilization was seen as prominent within San mission stations. Thornberg was not only a type of economic activity, but according to John Philip, the plough was a sign of a refined culture.The economy was seen as a set of self-regulating mechanism that naturally operated in a benign way to produce wealth and a well-organized society. It therefore followed that each heathen individual was expected to earn an independent living by participating in a responsible manner of course, in their individual labor markets. Within Bethelsdorp, Vanderkemp initiated with the preparation of Christianization. At Thornberg, Smit initiated with cultivation. Both stations proved this link between civilization and the culture on the ground. Nevertheless, before agriculture could be instilled upon the heathen, the stations had to provide the gift of ‘the knowledge’. I say the gift of ‘the knowledge’ as education was vital in communicating with the heathen, and also vital in instilling Christian –European ideologies upon the San and Khoekhoe. Education was perceived to be the back-bone of a consistent policy of ‘improvement’ which coupled with desire to bring about material betterment of its subjects. The provisions of education were also to eliminate the imperfections ‘defects of character’, the teaching of ‘right conduct’ and the ‘progressive orderly development of the mind’. At Bethelsdorp it stated clear in its establishment to promote the knowledge of Christianity and the practice of instruction of Christianity upon the heathen into a progressive regular society. Rules of the Institute engaged with a satisfactory ‘civilized’ behavior, discourages idleness and laziness to encourage a regular economy. The society showed employment in numerous occupations such as; carpenters, basket-makers, brick-makers, thatchers and so forth, thus proving a viable European archetype economic system. Along with its infrastructure; housing, street settings and churches, the Bethelsdorp heathen society achieved its modernity in regards to infrastructure. Instead of settlement in caves or their traditional round huts made from green branches planted into the ground and bent over and tied together, transformed into brick-housing.
Much like the San at Thornberg, who too transformed from savage living rooms to modern housing. These rectangular houses made of stone were also seen as elements of civilization with symbolic significance. Nonetheless, the economic activity that took place at Bethelsdorp draws much attention. The native pastoralists transformed to agriculturalist, tailors, coopers, sawyers- in essence a simplistic European society, engaging in normal and modified ways of economic activity. This notion of a ‘normal’ and ‘modified’ society in economic terms relates back to Rev. T.D Philips “Christianity Modifying National Character”. Christianity had ridden the heathen of their scanty ways and evil habits of dirtiness, subsistence modes of living and surviving. This archetype economic system at Bethelsdorp allowed the Khoekhoe to be freed from their evils and modified their basic necessities and altered their physical development for the good of their future. In addition, the skills learnt by the Khoekhoe to produce such a productive economy promoted their intellectual capacity; a notion which Rev. T.D. Philip himself makes claim of the worth of Christianity. At the end, the missionary of Bethelsdorp filtered out the flaw sand barbarous ways of the Khoekhoe culture, and instilled upon them through education, skill (literacy and numeracy), and whisked out its sinful habits into a mature and viable society which could thus be assimilated into European society. As with Bethelsdorp, the most important initiate was that of a productive and viable economy. Although Thornberg station or Mr. Smit had not focused much on occupational skills during the stations active period, agriculture and cultivation were at the center of its economic viability. There is no evidence of San thatchers or brick-makers, but there is assumed evidence of vineyards, hence assuming occupations in wine-making. Nevertheless, the San station erected modern infrastructure; dams, layered streets and houses, which thus enhanced their lifestyles and eradicated their tradition mobility. The hunter-gatherer tradition of mobility had been eradicated through permanent residents at Thornberg. Their habits transformed into civilized eating their produce of their labor within the boundaries of the station.
Schooling had an important impact in Thornberg and Bethelsdorp as is was believed that Christianity would promote the intellectual capacity of the heathen in Rev.T.D Philip’s chapter. Specifically the schooling of the native children is of particular importance, regardless of the progressive civilized attitudes of the adult heathens. Rev.T.D Philip’s notion of intellectually stimulating and fostering growth for the betterment of the native society, enacts- in part, to the fundamentals layered down within the future generation of the heathen society-its children. Even though, many historians may agree, as Part ThembaMgadla does. Education introduced by missionaries were not only for educating the heathens per se, rather it was a means of converting them into the faith of Christianity. By introducing the bare rudiments of literacy, reading, writing and a small amount of arithmetic, it eventually led to the conversion or baptism thereof a heathen. The notion of an ideal child develops among missionaries, in part to develop into an ideal adult. Then, what is this notion of an ideal child? It was perceived, as by missionaries conducting their work within the Red River settlement, that children would be the best recipients and transmitters of civilization. It is my risky attempt to relate this to Rev.T.D Philip’s words:
“ ..even the younger generations are no exception from this notion, yet are even more affected by the example and spirit of those amongst whom they are living” that so too had the L.M.S or specifically assumed that the heathen children at these stations would be suitable transmitters and recipients, and therefore when reach maturity would have, reached maturity in a civilized manner. The undisciplined, disobedient, and uneducated children had been modeled into Christian, literate, skillful, polite and sedentary adults. As I have stated above, education was not merely just to educate, but to Christianize, and as Jonathan Anuik in his piece “Forming Civilization at Red River: 19th Century Missionary Education of Metis and First Nation Children” projects; teachers would use the Bible to enable the development of the reading and writing, which would then be easily transmitted in the introduction of the topic of agriculture, cultivation and so forth.
CONCLUSION
One cannot deny that in the historical record, missionaries have not acted as agents of foreign empires who help spread foreign political influence over the indigenous peoples with whom they worked. Granted, missionaries have destroyed culture in an effort to civilize them, nonetheless, missionaries believed in their cause in promoting Christianity as of free will, the right to modernity and the basic necessity that they believed was life. Missionaries do promote imperialism, politically and culturally hegemonic in nature, but often enrich and empower the indigenous. However twisted this may be, even destroying a unique culture on its own, the L.M.S empowered the Khoekhoe and San with knowledge and skills to further their development, and yet also to catalyze their modernity. The motives of the L.M.S focused on the salvation of the indigenous societies, and were sincere at heart. The Gospel was considered the enlightened truth, a means of going to heaven and being in right relationship with God, responsible for saving men from their degraded condition. As Christians, the duty of an L.M.S missionary was to employ with all their power the means and knowledge of the Gospel, simply because one could not ‘justify not sharing the beauties of God’s grace and the possibility of (knowing) this salvation to be available to all mankind’. In practical the mindset of the missionaries were Christianity, Civilization and Commerce; the three C’s. Christianity employed the wonders of the Gospel, whilst instilling European ethos upon the heathen societies. Hence, the ideal Christian child, obedient, educated and civilized, would grow to be an ideal, well behaved, skillful adult. Once the two C’s (Christianity and Civilization) was in place, commerce would now take effect. The encouragement of agriculture, cultivation, and live-stock, sewing, brick-making and so forth would thus satisfy the overall notion of Christianity (seen within a European eye, of course). As Adrian Hastings argues; civilization was ‘the vegetable gardens and fruit trees, clean houses and water, ploughs and forges, reading and writing, hats and shoes’, items which were familiar to Europeans at home in Britain. In all its failures and difficulties, Bethelsdorp and Thornberg are among many L.M.S. missionary stations which represent the correction of evil habits by furnishing the converts with land, illustrate the promotion of cultivation and numerous occupational skills, the erections of infrastructure as evidence of modernity and which embodies the notion of Christianization. The ‘civilizing program’ both for the Khoekhoe at Bethelsdorp and the San at Thornberg embodies the well worn Victorian formula, the three C’s- Christianity, Civilization and Commerce; each representatives of an archetype European Society.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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