“Friday, 14th, I walked thirteen miles, lunched and rested a couple of

hours, and six miles farther landed me in Malange. Just as I crossed the

Malange River, I met Brothers Samuel J. and William H. Mead, and Robert

Shields, accompanied by Mrs. Ardella and Miss Bertha Mead, mounted on

bull backs, with portable organ, base viol, cornet, etc., on their way to

Kolamosheeta, where I had lunched that day, to hold religious services.

“The people of that town are hungry for the truth of God. I begged them

not to stop for me, but to go on to their appointment, but they replied

that the people would not assemble till their arrival was announced,

and said they ‘were going out at this time, thinking they might meet me

there.’ So they returned and I accompanied them to the mission-house in

Malange. Malange is sixty-two miles distant from Pungo Andongo.

“The fifty-one miles of travel from Dondo to Nhanguepepo is mainly

through a region of rugged mountains and precipitous cliffs of solid

rock, opening out into the long and widening grassy plateaus of

Nhanguepepo. The thirty-eight miles from Nhangue to Pungo extend through

and mainly across a series of ridges and hollows sparsely covered with

scrubby timber. The soil not so rich, hence grass not so heavy and grass

fires not so hot; therefore there is half a chance for trees to grow,

with no chance at all from Dondo to Nhangue, except some very sappy

varieties of but little value.

“From Pungo on for twenty miles the ridges are much broader and not so

high as those described; there is more sand, less grass and heavier, but

still scrub-timber. Then for eight or ten miles we cross low, beautifully

rounded grassy ridges, with a little streams of water near the surface,

about half a mile apart between the ridges. Then, for most of the way

to Malange we cross ridges less fertile, much higher, with an ascent of

from two to four miles. The whole line of march bears southeasterly. All

appears to be a good grazing country, with many herds of cattle, but not

a tithe of the number required to keep the grass down, and thus keep

up good short grass pasturage the year round, and preclude the great

‘prairie fires,’ which destroy the young timber and prevent the growth of

forests. For many miles around Malange, there is a fair supply of good

hard-wood timber in variety.

“Sam Mead, Ardella his wife, and Bertha his niece, and I came together to

Malange, nearly four years ago. Sr. J. Preitas was then in charge of the

long established business house of Sanza Laurie & Co., in Malange, and

gave us the temporary use of a house for our missionaries. After a day or

two here, he informed me that Sanza Laurie & Co. intended soon to close

out their business in Malange, and that I had better buy their house and

town lot on which it stood, containing an acre of land and some banana

trees. The house was an extension of house added to house joined into

solid walls, about one-third of wattle and earth, and the rest of adobe

brick. The last one added, forty feet in length, was new, consisting

simply of walls with no roof. The frontage of the whole was about 165

feet, by a width of 18 feet. I inquired: ‘What is the price of the whole

property, house and land?’

“He replied: ‘You can have it for two hundred milreis, $214.’

“I said: ‘I’ll give that amount,’ and the bargain was closed in about

as few words as I have written. It is worth four times that amount now.

The plates, girders and timbers are nearly all of ant-proof, and almost

everlasting hard-wood, most of which are as solid to-day apparently as

when new. One of them has a fire-proof covering by means of a double

roof. On the lower is a heavy layer of cement of adobe clay, precluding

rats, rain and fire. Over this is a thatch roof of long native grass.

On the sunny side it has kept dry and sound, but on the north side our

brethren have put on new thatch, cleaned and whitewashed the rooms, and

finished the new forty-foot room, and fitted it up for a school-room and

chapel, which is the seventh room in the building.

“In the few days I was here, four years ago, Brother Sam and I selected

and stept off a mission-farm adjoining our mission-house. He and Brother

Gordon fenced, cleared and planted several acres in corn, beans, manioc,

sweet potatoes, etc., and everything grew beautifully, but the brethren

were kept indoors by illness for a few days, and just what an old

Portuguese settler predicted came to pass, their fencing was all stolen

for firewood, and the cattle and hogs devoured every green thing from the

premises. Bad outlook for self-support. It was in the midst of a ‘three

years’ drought,’ which precluded the growth of supplies at our other

Angola stations, but our farm was not far from the ‘laguna,’ a lake, a

few hundred yards wide, and perhaps a mile long, occasioned by the spread

of the Malange River over a plain, which gave moisture to the soil for a

considerable distance from its shore. We did not seek to get nearer to

the lake for fear of malaria, being warned of that peril by old residents.

“A fair share of the supplies for the first year of food, tools, and a

little money, came to Malange for six missionaries, including Bertha, in

her thirteenth year, with fresh supplies for the second year, and seven

new missionaries to help to use them up, but all that was but to keep the

wolf away, and afford means for the development of self-support. Sister

Ardella’s health was so far gone, for months, that it was believed her

life depended on her having apartments in a second story. But there were

none in town, so a two-story house must be built. In the changes that

were one way and another rapidly occurring, for the most part by attacks

of home-sickness, that carried them off and clear out of the country,

most of the work devolved on Brother Sam Mead, till two years ago his

cousin, Brother Willie H. Mead and family moved hither from Nhangue,

preceded by Brother Robert Shields, sent out by our Committee from

Ireland. These have all stuck to the work here to which God called them,

except that Edna Mead, a ripe Christian of about 12 years of age, at the

call of God went up to join her sister, Nellie, in their heavenly home.

“The results of this unpromising attempt at self-support I will sketch in

my next letter. WM. TAYLOR.”

MISSIONARY SELF-SUPPORT AT MALANGE.

“Malange Station received, at the beginning, its proportion of cloth,

provisions, tools and a little money to tide a small band of workers——Sam

Mead, Ardella his wife, and Bertha Mead, of 13, his niece, and two young

men——through the first year, which proved to be the second of a ‘three

years’ drought and famine.’

“So a partial supply was sent for the ensuing year to prevent suffering

from want. Meantime, the ‘tent-making’ by the missionaries, to ‘make ends

meet,’ would have sufficed in a pinch, but the subsidy was salutary and

safe, for they were not of the sort to be surfeited and suffocated even

by an excess of supplies if they had had them, taking real pleasure in

‘scratching’ for themselves. Two years were required for apprenticeship,

experimenting in many things, with everything to learn essential to

self-support.

“About the beginning of the third year, after various changes by the

coming and going of new workers, the coming of Willie H. Mead, with his

family from Nhanguepepo, to join his cousin, Sam——about the beginning

of the third year, marked the period when self-support really began to

abound.

“Minnie Mead, Willie’s wife, turned in $40 by her sewing machine. Hèli

Chatelain an equal sum by teaching languages to some traders. Robert

Shields, from his private purse, put in $22. Willie has put in $80 per

year from the rents of some property he has in Vermont, his old home,

and, within a few months after arrival, put in $200 from pit-sawing and

selling lumber. Most of these sums, with about $100 worth of goods sent

as a present from Ireland to Brother Shields, were used to stock a little

store for a small commercial business, as one branch of industry which

was felt to be specially needful.

“Most of the business of the labor market of Angola is transacted through

copper coin currency. It is so difficult to procure and keep a supply of

it on hand that to purchase it, even with gold, ten per cent. premium has

to be paid. The patrons of a variety shop bring in for the purchase of

things they require a good supply of the copper coin.

“Robert Shields, having served a regular apprenticeship to the grocery

business in Ireland, with an additional experience in it of a year and

a half, was appointed to take charge of this industry, and work it in

connection with his studies, and special evangelizing among the villagers

adjacent to Malange.

“The farm selected at the beginning was found to be too near the town,

and the whole work of ‘a season’ on it having been destroyed in a night,

there was no ground of hope for anything better by a repetition of

the experiment of fencing and farming there. So Sam Mead, in a state

of semi-desperation, mounted one of his bulls and managed to struggle

through grass as high as his head to explore the lake shore, along which

he found a neglected farm, on which were growing many valuable fruit

trees; he also discovered that the farm, save its lake-side boundary,

was enclosed by a strong growing hedge, and contained a body of about

300 acres of black clay and loam of the most productive quality. He

immediately sought for the owner——the heir to the man deceased, who had

spent so much time, toil and money on it, and he bought and paid for it

with money belonging to Ardella, his wife. He then went to work with a

will, under a new inspiration of hope, assisted for a time by Brothers

Rudolph and Gordon, and produced abundantly a variety of tropical and

temperate zone products for food.

“The mechanical industries were under the special charge of Wm. H.

Mead. His sons——Johnnie and Sammy, the former about 12, and the latter

nearly 11——out of school-hours are valuable helpers in each department,

alternating where needed most.

“Willie’s two pit-saws, in the two years he has been in Malange, have

turned out $1,500 worth of planks and scantling, about half of which he

sold, and used up the other half on improvements of mission property. To

haul the logs from the forest, Sam had the oxen and Willie bought a huge

Portuguese cart, with wheels of hard-wood, about four feet in diameter,

and a hard-wood frame to match, all very strong and durable.

“The outlay of the earnings of these workers, for the past two years,

over and above self-supporting subsistence, may be seen in the following

exhibit:

“(1) The roofing and fitting up for school and chapel purposes of the

unfinished hall, 18x40 feet, belonging to the block of buildings first

bought for the mission. The girders, plates, rafters and collar beams are

all of enduring hard-wood. The roof is double; the nether is covered with

fire-proof clay; the upper with thatch grass. The shutters and doors, and

frames for both, are of sawn hard-wood. Its slab benches, without backs,

give quite a ‘rise’ to people always accustomed to sit on the ground.

The cost of these improvements in material, labor and money is estimated

to have been $300.

“(2) The farm-house, 15x20 feet; corn crib, about 6x11 feet, set on

posts, capt with inverted tin-pans, to prevent the rats from getting up;

and two out-houses, about 10x10 feet, and a corral of heavy logs for the

cattle, cost a total of $100.

“(3) Willie Mead’s saw-pits, a shed, workshop and appliances, located in

the mission yard, cost about $100.

“(4) A new mission-house on the same lot on which stands the old one.

It is 24x30 feet, two stories high. The lower story is built of dressed

stone, the upper of adobe brick, solid walls, below and above, three and

one-half feet thick, with a second-story, veranda front and rear of the

building. Double fire-proof roof——as the chapel roof before described.

Doors, window shutters, and frames of both, together with the verandas

and upper-story floors, are all sawn hard-wood. The lower floor and walks

outside are of flag-stones. It is the only two-story house in Malange,

and believed to be the only house in Angola furnished with a chimney and

fireplace, which adds greatly to its comfort in the really cold weather

of Malange at this season of the year. The upper story is used by Sam

and Ardella, and about half a dozen of their adopted native children.

The lower story has also sleeping accommodations, but is the dining-room

for Sam, Ardella, Robert Shields and Bertha, and the school ‘internoes.’

The house is not large, but most symmetrical and substantial, and is

prophetic of progress, and bears from the veranda facing the street a

tall flag-staff from which floats the flag of our home country——the stars

and stripes.

“The brethren estimate the cost of this building, in materials, money

and labor, at $800. To buy all the materials, and depend on hiring

workmen, it could not be done for that amount. It will be observed that

the aggregate outlay for these improvements amounts to $1,300, not a

dollar of which was furnished by our Transit and Building Fund Society;

the brethren preferring to do it themselves than to ask for or receive

aid from home. They are now engaged in building a wall round our Malange

Mission premises 1,000 feet long.

“(5) The farm Brother Sam bought, with its field of sugar cane, so

thickly set as to defy anything short of an elephant a passage through

it; its fruit orchard; its live stock of twenty herd of cattle, including

three yoke of oxen; and eleven breeding sows and male, and chickens, is

worth in the market one thousand dollars.

“As soon as Sam began to inquire for the owner, others began to compete

with him as bidders for it, so, to avoid the peril of delay, he bought it

at the earliest possible moment, and had it deeded to himself, and has

held it in good faith for the mission. During my recent visit to Malange,

I offered to refund Ardella’s money with interest.

“Sam and Ardella laid the subject before the Lord, and returned

answer, that, having given themselves and all they have to God for his

self-supporting missions in Africa, they refuse a refund; but will

immediately deed the farm and all the appurtenances thereunto belonging

to the Transit and Building Fund Society, to be held in trust for the

self-supporting missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. I put the

matter into the hands of Brother C. W. Gordon, our legal attorney, and

the conveyance will be made, no doubt, before this MS. can be printed.

“The building of the new house has absorbed a large proportion of the

stock in trade of their little store. They were quite disinclined to

allow me to help them stock it up a bit, but I prevailed on them to

accept the small amount of $214.

“As Willie Mead is a noted mechanical genius, on the

short-cut-cheap-line, adapted to a country like this, and as Malange

has greatly the advantage of any of our other Angola missions in timber

supply, and the farthest inland, he should have an outfit of tools and

machinery for a few branches of industry well adapted to that locality.

This need has been in part provided for. Our Committee has sent a new

supply of farming implements and carpenter’s tools for Malange, soon to

arrive.

“I have, on my return trip to the sea, ordered them a turning lathe from

Nhangue; also a farmer’s outfit, the gift of Thomas Walker & Sons, of

England; and have sent from Dondo a blacksmith’s anvil, vice, tongs,

etc. What Malange yet needs is a small steam-engine, of four or five

horse-power, with ‘arbor’ and belting, and other appliances, and a

thousand feet of small piping for pumping water, to run by steam, (1)

their sugar cane crushing mill; (2) their corn meal grinding mill; (3)

their turning lathe; (4) a small circular saw of eighteen or twenty

inches diameter, also a small circular cross-cut saw, the saw to be sent

from home with the engine, belting, and water-piping. We don’t want for

Malange a saw mill, big engine, or anything costly or too heavy for easy

transport on the heads of natives 150 miles from Dondo to Malange. Willie

Mead did not ask for these things, but needs them for mission industrial

teaching, in connection with his powerful preaching in the Portuguese

language. He was proposing to sell his little property in Vermont, to use

the money derivable from the sale of his homestead, to buy the engine,

etc., as above, for Malange Mission, but I protest against that. Such men

as the Meads are just the men we can afford to help with certainty of

broad self-supporting missionary independency and wide-spread efficiency,

without danger of dependency. WM. TAYLOR.”

RETURN FROM MALANGE TO DONDO.

“I was planning to leave Malange, Monday, 24th of June, but ‘Magady was

dying,’ so I yielded to the request of our brethren and sisters, and

postponed till Wednesday, the 26th. Magady was a ‘Labola boy,’ who, as a

little fellow, gave himself to Sam and Arda, nearly four years ago. He

was very black, but pronounced by some as ‘the most beautiful boy they

ever saw.’ The people on the south side of the Coanza, from its mouth

up for 250 miles, are called Kasamas; thence on for 200 or 300 miles, a

similar people are called the Libólos. Neither will allow the Portuguese

people to travel through their country.

“Magady’s story was that his parents were dead, and that his uncle

treated him so badly he ran away from his country, and became cook for

the Malange mission. He was taught to know, to fear and to love the

Lord, and to sing our hymns. For about two years he was a consistent

Christian. Then, through the intrigues of an influential, designing,

bad man, he was enticed into bad company, and forsook the Lord. Then he

was visited by a disease of his head. He would be walking along, and

fall as suddenly as if shot by a Remington rifle, and lie some time in a

state of insensibility, but that was as nothing compared with severe and

sudden pains in his head that caused him to scream aloud at all hours,

day and night. None but himself attempted to diagnose his case. He said

‘Gan N’Zambi’ sent it on him for his wicked departure from Him, and

would destroy his body, but had forgiven him, and washed his spirit, and

that he was sure he would soon go to live with God, and was anxiously

waiting for the call of the King. About 2 P. M. Monday, June 24th, he

died. Willie Mead made him a hard-wood coffin, and lined and covered it

with white cotton cloth, and he was laid in a grave six feet deep in our

own mission burial-ground, where dear Edna Mead sleeps. I conducted the

funeral service, about thirty persons being present——a ‘brand snatched

from the burning,’ our first Angola representative in heaven.

“During my sojourn in Malange, this trip, I slept in my own bed, as

usual, set up in the second-story veranda of our new house, overlooking

the street. The nights were very cold and the winds very high, but I

rested sweetly, and improved the tone of my health. For two years I had

endured an unmitigated high pressure of care and anxiety, on account of

the combinations against the success of my work, within and without,

front and rear, threatening the life of my missions. But for the great

kindness and care of my gracious God and Father it would have killed me.

Viewing the blessed harmony and efficiency of our workers from Loanda,

and on for 390 miles to Malange, I set up my Ebenezer, and wept, wept,

and praised God softly, softly. Then I rested my weary spirit on the

bosom of Jesus, and resigned my way-worn body to sleep. There, in the

breezes of the high veranda, days and nights together, I slept and

slept, and waked, only to say ‘thank God,’ and slept again. Then I got

up feeling as fresh as the morning. I bade adieu to my kindred dear in

Malange, and left at a quarter to eight Wednesday morning, June 26th, and

Friday P.M. reached Pungo Andongo, and had a blessed two days’ sojourn

with Brother Gordon, Sisters Withey, Bertha, Lottie and Flossie——holy,

lovely people. Brother Gordon is a master in the Portuguese and Kimbundu.

We preached an hour Sunday A.M. I knew his rendering into Kimbundu was

clear and forcible, by its manifest effect on the hearers. It was their

regular chapel service for each Sabbath. The soldier who was awakened on

my way out has been called away on duty, so that we can’t report progress

in his case, but half-a-dozen men, or more, came forward on this occasion

as seekers of pardon, and prayed audibly, but did not appear to enter

into life.

“I left for Nhangue, Monday morning, July 1st. Brother Gordon accompanied

me fourteen miles to Queongwa, to show me a mission farm Brother Withey

recently bought there, of probably 250 acres. We went through it that

afternoon, from end to end. It is bounded on the west by a bold running

stream, and on the north by the caravan path, stretching across a ridge

of fertile soil over 200 rods wide. The former owner was with us, and

wanted to sell us the lower end of the same ridge, extending from this

path about 200 rods to the hollow, northward, where it is bounded by

another little river, till it flows into the one that bounds the whole

tract on the west side, and has another shallow stream flowing through

the addition near its eastern boundary. So, as this new survey, of about

200 acres, was offered to us at a very small figure, we bought it. The

former purchase from self-supporting earnings, has already been conveyed

to the T. and B. F. Soc. for the M. E. Church, and this will be, or is by

this time.

“Brother Gordon is a symmetrical, lovely character, and efficient in

everything he takes hold of. When Brother Withey and he took hold of our

little store in Pungo a little over a year ago, its assets were $200,

now over $1,000, and the preaching done across the counter in all holy

conversation and honest dealing, is a power for God in that centre of

far-reaching influence.

“I reached Nhangue on Tuesday P.M., and rested Wednesday till 4 P.M. We

had a preaching and baptismal service. Brother Rudolph has had several

young natives converted during my absence. Here, as at Malange, many

candidates for baptism we had to put off for better preparation. We

baptized none of responsible years who were not well recommended by

missionaries who had been training them for many months, and who were

assured, from their profession and lives, of real conversion to God,

and declined to baptize any children whose parents were not prepared

publicly to pledge themselves to teach or have their children taught

their baptismal relation and obligations to God, and to trust Him for His

baptismal pledges to them. Those rejected were disappointed. However,

on Wednesday P.M., I baptized twenty-one little children, and several

converted lads, and five new probationers were added to our native

church, making thirteen natives at Nhanguepepo, and twenty-one at Malange.

“On Thursday morning, Brother Karl accompanied me as far as Nellie Mead’s

grave, under a shade tree, about two rods from the caravan trail. A

construction of solid masonry, about 5x8 feet, and two feet high, covers

her consecrated bones, all given to God before she left America, and laid

at the front, according to her covenant, to live and die for Jesus in

Africa. She was a natural musician, and has gone to take lessons where

‘the new song’ is attuned to the ‘harpers’ of the melody of heaven. She

was one of our children, of the same age, but less stature, of Bertha

Mead. Dear little Willie Hicks sleeps beside her, and will, with her,

wake up at the first call, early in the morning.

“I bade dear Karl adieu, and walked that day twenty-six miles, and camped

at Kasoki, and next day, July 5th, walked twenty-five miles, and put up

with dear Brother Withey and Stella, at our mission-house at Dondo. I

thus completed my walk of 300 miles with less weariness than the same

route cost me nearly four years ago. Glory to God, my patient loving

Father in heaven and here in the mountains and vales in Africa! WM.

TAYLOR.”

Writing in September, 1889, Bishop Taylor says of his Congo missions:

“Vivi is about 100 miles from the ocean, on the north side of the Congo

River.

“Old Vivi, founded by Mr. Stanley, is reached by climbing a steep

ascent of half a mile or more from the steamboat landing and Government

warehouses at the river-side. It is now entirely deserted. Proceeding

by the same road along the slope of the ridge on which old Vivi stands,

and thence across a deep glen and up another steep hill, we reach ‘Vivi

Top,’ the site of the first capital of the State. It is located on a

broad and beautiful plateau, commanding a full view of several miles of

the river with its whirlpools and sweeping currents. The villages of

Matadi, Tundua, the site of Underhill Mission of the English Baptists,

and several trading stations, all dressed in white paint and lime, stand

out and grace the scene on the south bank of the great river.

“The Government imported and built several large houses of wood and iron

at Vivi. One of the houses, I was informed, cost the Governor-General

$17,000. We could have bought it for $9,000, but had to decline the

generous offer for lack of means.

[Illustration: MISSION HOUSE AT VIVI.]

“The large houses were taken down and shipt to Boma, the present capital,

about fifty miles below Vivi, and were reconstructed on Boma plateau.

“We bought the site of the old capital, comprising about twelve acres of

land and a few small buildings, sufficiently capacious for our needs for

a few years, for $768.

“The plateau being so high and dry, I did not apply for much land,

considering it unsuitable for profitable cultivation. We require the

site for a receiving station for the transport of supplies for our

contemplated industrial stations in the interior north of the Congo, and

the great Upper Congo, and Kasai countries.

“I now perceive that under the judicious management of my

Preacher-in-Charge, J. C. Teter, Vivi will become, in the near future,

a self-supporting station, and the most beautiful mission premises on

either bank of the river. On my recent arrival in Vivi, about the 8th

of August, with the dry season far advanced, I was delighted to find,

on the high and dry soil of Vivi, a field of manioc, beautifully green

and growing. The mango and palm trees on the place when we came into

possession have made a remarkable growth during my absence, and are

full of fruit; a young orchard of choice varieties of tropical fruits

are getting a fine start, and in the garden plenty of yams as large as

my head. I also find a promising start in the production of live stock.

We already have at Vivi eight choice African sheep; twenty-five goats,

which multiply like rabbits; 100 chickens, and a male and a female calf.

Brother Teter built a house for the sheep, another for the goats, and a

corral for the calves. These are not in care of keepers or dogs during

the day, and they return to their houses in the evenings and are shut

in from the leopards. One of those dangerous customers reached his paw

in through a slight opening in the wall of the goat house, and tore a

fine female goat so that it was necessary to kill her. The morning after

my arrival I went with Brother Teter to see the goats come out of their

fortress. As they came rushing through the door, I was surprised and

amused to see three monkeys mounted on the backs of goats, as pompously

riding out to the grazing grounds as if the flock belonged to them. They

lodge with the goats by night, and spend most of their time with them

through the day, and are often seen riding as erect as a drill sergeant

of cavalry. They spend many of their leisure hours in picking bugs and

burrs off the goats, and playing with the kids. Their indescribable

antics are enough to make a dog laugh, and to relieve a confirmed

dyspeptic of the blues.

“Brother Teter is building of stone a snake-proof chicken-house. A lesson

of sad experience led him to build of solid masonry. Some months ago,

Sister Teter went into the chicken-house, then in use, to look after a

sitting hen. While stooping over the nest, which she thought was occupied

by the hen, she felt something like a jet of spray come into her face,

and this was quickly repeated two or three times, filling her eyes with

the poison of a “spitting snake,” which lay coiled in the nest. All that

night she suffered, in total blindness, indescribable agony of pain. By

the prompt application of powerful remedies her life was saved, and her

sight restored, but her health was injured by the poison. The dear woman

was quite unwell on my recent arrival, but seemed quite restored before I

left.

“I have furnished a glimpse of the sunny side of Vivi, produced by the

genius and industry of our faithful Preacher-in-Charge. Our Vivi Station

and our cause have suffered temporarily by the disaffection and departure

of those who were numbered with us; but their departure has left us in

peace and harmony, with the possibility and certainty of success in the

work to which God has called us. ‘They went out from us, but they were

not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued

with us,’ There are many not very good, and many who are very good,

who are ‘not of us’ and not ‘with us’ in our Self-Supporting Mission

movement. When such of either class, by mistake, get into our list of

workers, the best thing for all concerned is for them to get out, as

quietly and as quickly as possible. We are sorry for them, and cease not

to love them and to pray for them.

“On Wednesday afternoon, the 14th of August, accompanied by Lutete, a

native man, employed to carry my blankets and food, I took the path for

Isangala; distant, ’tis said, fifty-five miles from Vivi. We walked

twelve miles, and put up for the night at a new mission just being opened

by Mr. and Mrs. Reed and Mr. Bullikist, recently sent out as missionaries

by Dr. Simpson, of New York.

“They seem to be earnest Christians, and will, I trust, make a

soul-saving success. They are having three native houses built, each

about 12x18 feet, which will give shelter for three or four years. Their

faithful dog shared in their tent lodgings, till one night, a few weeks

since, a leopard or panther scented him, took ‘a fancy to him,’ and

carried him off. Brother Reed is expert in the use of a gun, and supplies

his table with venison from the prairies. Soon after his arrival, he went

out and killed a deer, and a native king and some of his people came and

claimed and clamored for it. Reed got their attention, and, leveling his

rifle at a tree, he put an explosive bullet into a knot and tore it to

pieces. He then drew his revolver, and discharged it a few times in the

air. His argument had its effect on their minds, and they quietly retired.

“At 7 o’clock next day, having disposed of a good breakfast, I took the

trail, and walked seventeen miles, to Matamba Creek, by 3 P.M. I was

quite disinclined to camp so early, but there being no available water

for seven miles beyond, I made my pallet on the ground and turned in for

the night. I usually have my very comfortable portable bedstead, but

going only for a short stay at Isangala, I took but one carrier instead

of two, my usual number.

“Passing through Bunde Valley to-day, I saw a herd of nine or ten koko——a

huge deer as big as a donkey, with longer legs. They bounded away a few

rods, and at the distance of about a hundred yards stood and looked at us

till we passed out of sight. My Winchester would have brought one of them

down if it had been with me, instead of at Vivi.

“Twice, later in the day, we were within easy shot of large red deer.

On my return, in the same valley, which is about eight miles long,

stretching between mountains or high hills north and south of it, and

abounding in game, I was within easy shot of a koko, which stood and

looked at me without moving. We also heard buffalo in a jungle of

grass and bushes, not thirty yards from us. I saw plenty of game when

I traveled this path over two years ago, but I don’t carry a gun in

traveling, having enough to do to carry myself, and no time for curing

and packing the meat, if taken.

“I went out from Vivi with Brother Teter, the other day, to get meat for

use. Our hunting-ground was about ten miles from home. The first day we

got no meat, but saw many koko and deer. The second day at noon, we had

nothing, and were getting into a position to sympathize with a hungry

hunter of the olden time who sold his birthright for a pot of soup with

no venison in it. Teter was becoming desperate, for he is a noted hunter,

hungry for meat, and withal had a reputation to sustain. As soon as we

got our lunch of all we had, he took my Winchester and set off alone.

When he had gone half a mile from camp, he ‘stalked’ a small herd of

koko, and shot a young buck through the neck and killed him, and then

emptied the gun-chamber of its dozen cartridges in trying to bring down

another buck. He shot off its right fore leg, and shot off the sinews

of the left one, and put a bullet into its hip, but he would not down.

Teter, having no more cartridges, left the gun and pursued the wounded

deer and stoned him to death. We had with us two Liberia boys. We camped

near by for the night, and before the morning dawn, we had the larger

buck cut into thin slices and cured by the fire. The younger one, about

a year and a half old, was carried whole to Vivi, by a hired native.

Our Liberia boys, with a good supply of fresh meat, were so refreshed

in their minds that they sang the songs of Moody and Sankey, almost

incessantly, for days. The deer of this section are smaller than the

antelope and gemsbock varieties which we read of in other sections, and

which offer such royal sport for those who go equipped for hunting.

[Illustration: HUNTING THE GEMBOCK.]

“On Friday, we walked from Matamba Creek, twenty-three miles to Isangala.

By my usual speed of three miles an hour, I made the distance from Vivi

to Isangala, fifty-two miles instead of fifty-five, as per Mr. Stanley.

I was, however, in fine condition for walking, and may have overstept my

ordinary gait. Arriving at Isangala, I came first to the station of the

State, and by invitation of Mons. C. La Jeune, the Government Chief of

Isangala, I stopt for half an hour in pleasant conversation, and then

proceeded a few hundred yards to our Isangala Mission Station.

“I found our faithful missionaries, Brothers White and Rasmussen, in good

heath, and happy in the Lord.

“They have built a cheap but comfortable house, about 15x40 feet, also

a kitchen and warehouse for storing our stuff. They have made a garden

also, which yields a goodly portion of their support. A single yam,

dug while I was there, weighed twenty-two pounds. Beside vegetables,

they have a large flock of chickens. These brethren both belong to our

transport corps, but have done this station work beside, and have made

good progress toward the mastery of the Fiot or Congo language.

“Brother Rasmussen, though but two and a half years in this country,

speaks the Fiot fluently, and preaches in it in the villages contiguous.

I remained with those dear brethren from Friday evening till Tuesday, the

20th. We had Blessed Communion with the Holy Trinity and with each other.

On Sabbath, I preached to a company of natives, and Brother Rasmussen

interpreted without hitch or hesitation. In another year or two this

dear brother, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, can go forth as an

apostle among the nations of Congo.

“One part of my business was to advise with these brethren on the

possible solution of our steamer problem. I had talked up all the points

with Brother Teter, and he was so sure these brethren would concur in

our conclusions, he thought it quite sufficient for me to write them,

and thus save myself the labor of a rough walk of over a hundred miles.

I said: ‘Nay, brother, I will walk it, and get the unbiased decisions

of their own judgment, and enlist the free good-will and effective

co-operation of the brethren in the work before us under a new impulse

which personal contact would communicate.’

“Before intimating the conclusions reached at Vivi, I drew out the candid

opinions and judgment of these brethren, and found they were of exactly

the same mind with us. When by mistake we take the ‘wrong road,’ and

travel a long distance in it, it seems a grievance to us to face about

and trudge our weary way back to the ‘cross-roads,’ but however much it

may go against the grain, that is the thing to do. It seems to lighten

the task a little, if some unfortunate fellow can be branded as ‘the

scape-goat’ to bear the blame of the mistake, for we all are of kin to

that dear lady we read about, who tried to make a scape-goat of the

devil; and to the unmanly man, who had the honor to be her husband, and

tried to make a scape-goat of his wife. But our well-intentioned mistake

was not a sin and we have no need of a scape-goat.

“Well, without enumerating the sources of clearer light, and the new

conditions and changes which have intervened in the last two years,

our unanimous judgment is that the Lord wants our present steamer for

the Lower Congo,——and a much lighter one for the Upper Congo and Kasai

water-ways two or three years hence. We will, as soon as the Lord will

help us, occupy our station at Luluaburg, vacant since the death of Dr.

Summers, and hold our footing in that vast and populous region.

[Illustration: BISHOP TAYLOR’S MISSIONS ON THE LOWER CONGO. (underlined)]

“I believe the Lord has a special providential purpose to fulfil in

settling us on the north side of the Lower Congo. He wants us to occupy a

densely populated, and utterly neglected region, so far as missionaries

are concerned, belonging to the Free State of Congo, extending 230 miles,

from Banana to Manyanga, and 100 miles wide. So that, while we shall, the

Lord willing, carry out our plan of planting missions in the countries

of the Upper Kasai and Sankuru Rivers, we will also provide for these

vast regions so near us. Our steamer will be available for the supply

of all these vast fields. Beside all this, if our time and space will

permit, we can carry for our neighbors any variety of freights, except

intoxicating liquors. Our plan, from the beginning, was in connection

with books and Gospel preaching, to establish industries to employ the

natives, and prepare them for usefulness. So, if it shall please the Lord

to give us a money-saving and a money-making transport service, direct

from Banana to the regions before-named, it will be in perfect accord

with our plan of missionary work for this country, and furnish us means

for its more rapid extension.

“Much of the work will be done by natives, whom we shall train, and

our own missionaries engaged in it will not be throwing away either

time or opportunity. Associating daily with the people, mastering their

languages, visiting their homes, employing them in business, bettering

their condition, exhibiting to them in all our words and ways the loving

spirit of Christ, and unfolding to them the hidden treasures of Divine

light and life is the kind of missionary work specially adapted to these

nations. There is no personal money-making motive nor purpose in it. ‘We

are workers together with God.’ We can trust Him for board and lodging

while in His service, and trust Him for reward when the work is done.

“During my absence from Congo of over a year and a half, Brother

Teter, in charge at Vivi, has had to stand firmly in defense of me, my

Committee, and my cause of Self-Supporting Missions, and having a few

sets of my books, he is continually lending them to the traders and State

officials stationed along the river from Vivi to Banana. Among these was

Mons. C. La Jeune, who became so interested in them, that at our recent

meeting in Isangala, he asked me to allow him to translate and print some

of them into the French language, for circulation in Belgium. He said he

was soon going home for at least six months, and would in that time make

the translations and arrangements for their sale. I had the pleasure of

giving him a written permission to do as he desired.

“The officers of the Congo State, from the Governor-General down, are

extremely polite and obliging, but the amount of Governmental tape that

belongs essentially to the administration of an old European Government

is a means of grace, especially the grace of patience to an American

pioneer.

“On Sunday, 25th, I preached in the open to twenty-six seated, attentive

English-speaking negroes from Liberia, Acra and Lagos, and a crowd that

stood and looked on. There are many scores of such people employed at

Boma, and their numbers are increasing. A great deal of missionary

money has been expended in civilizing and Christianizing these people,

especially those from the missions of the coast of Guinea, by the

Lutheran, Church of England and Wesleyan Methodists. They are very

anxious for a place of worship in Boma, it being the capital of the State

in which, by the will of God, we will plant hundreds of mission stations

in the near future. We ought to have a mission-school and church in Boma.

To accomplish all this next year we really lack but one thing, and that

is, the money. The cheap stations we establish in the wild regions of

the heathen are not of the style required for Boma. A plain, substantial

building for residence, school and preaching services would cost about

$5,000. WM. TAYLOR.”

SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION FIELDS.

South Africa next engages our attention. Passing by its natural scenery,

soil, productions, climate, its cities, towns and villages, manners and

customs of its many native tribes, and the character of its colonists, we

will confine ourselves strictly to what has been done for the moral and

religious welfare of the inhabitants. And first of the Western Province

of Cape Colony.

The Dutch Reformed church being that of the original colonists is the

strongest religious denomination, and it is numerously represented in

most of the towns and villages throughout the country. Formerly it was

regarded as the church of the white people alone. It was not till the

advent of the missionaries that the Dutch church awoke to the necessity

of doing something for the natives. Lately they have nobly redeemed their

character and in connection with many of their churches a large amount of

missionary work is done. The same _was_ true of the Church of England.

Now, with the aid of funds from home, they have been erecting churches

and school buildings in the towns and villages and appointing ministers

and teachers to labor among all classes. Lutherans, Presbyterians and

Baptists were also represented by churches in Cape Town but they did

nothing for the masses of the people.

Cape Colony, in common with other parts of South Africa, is chiefly

indebted to the missionary societies for the moral and religious

instruction of the masses.

The Moravians had the honor of being the first in the field, the Rev.

Geo. Schmidt having gone out to the Cape as early as 1737. A writer in

the _Missionary Review_ in 1889 says:

“Foremost in the fight with ignorance and evil in South Africa stands the

figure of George Schmidt, prepared for the hardships of his missionary

life by six years of imprisonment for conscience’ sake in Bohemia, during

which his brother in tribulation, Melchior Nitschmann, died in his arms.

Whence came the zeal which moved Schmidt to make his way alone to South

Africa in 1737, and to dwell among his little colony of Hottentots in

Bavianskloof, until in 1743 the persecutions of the Dutch settlers and

clergy drove him from the country, and their intrigues prevented his

return? Whence came the ardent heart’s desire, which led him day by

day to a quiet spot near his German home, and there poured itself out

in prayers for his orphaned flock far away, until, like Livingstone,

he died on his knees pleading for Africa? Such burning love and such

persistent prayer are not of man, they are of God. And though the answer

tarried long——yes, fifty years——it came before this century commenced.

George Schmidt was no longer on earth to hear the reports of the three

men upon whom his mantle fell——how they found the spot which he had

cultivated, the ruins of his hut yet visible, the whole valley a haunt

of wild beasts; and, better, how they found one surviving member of that

little congregation of 47 who had long waited and hoped for the return

of the beloved teacher. This was an aged blind Hottentot woman, who

welcomed them as Schmidt’s brothers with “Thanks be to God,” and unrolled

from two sheep-skins her greatest treasure, a Dutch New Testament which

he had given her. Soon this so-called Bavianskloof (_i.e._ Baboon’s

Glen) was changed into “The Vale of Grace” (in Dutch, Genadendal), and

where Schmidt’s poor hut stood there is now a large settlement, with

a congregation of more than 3,000 members. From this center the work

has spread over Cape Colony, and beyond its borders into independent

Kaffaria. Now its two provinces include 16 stations with their filials,

where 60 missionary agents have charge of 12,300 converts.”

The Evangelical French Missionary Society has stations at Wallington

and Waggonmaker’s Valley, but its principal field is in the interior.

The Berlin Missionary Society are also represented in the Riversdale

district. The Rhenish Missionary Society also occupies many important

stations. The London Missionary Society began its work in 1799, and has

made its influence to be felt for good in various parts of the country.

The Wesleyan Missionary Society commenced its labors in 1814. They were

hindered for a few years by the government authorities, but in the

course of time they made great progress in building churches and mission

premises, and in organizing schools all over the Colony.

The Eastern Province of Cape Colony is also indebted to the missionary

societies for religious instruction. Prosperous stations of the Moravian,

Berlin, Rhenish, French Evangelical, Presbyterian, London, and Wesleyan

Missionary Societies have been established in various places. The two

societies last mentioned, however, have been most extensively engaged in

purely missionary work. The London Society began in 1799 by sending out

Dr. Vanderkemp and the Wesleyan in 1820, the Rev. William Shaw being the

pioneer missionary. The temporal and spiritual benefits resulting from

the labors of these two societies to the people of different tribes and

languages in the Eastern Province of the Cape Colony were very marked.

In Kaffaria most of the religious denominations and missionary societies

at work in the Eastern Province of Cape Colony are at work here also.

In Natal, the Church of England has been unfortunate in the part it has

taken in the work there. As early as 1838 a missionary, a teacher and a

doctor, were sent out by the Church Missionary Society. Soon afterwards

others were sent to evangelize the natives, but war breaking out the work

was entirely relinquished. In 1853 Natal was constituted a diocese and

Dr. Colenso was consecrated the first bishop; but, according to his own

confession, instead of converting the natives to Christianity, he was

himself converted by a Zulu Kaffir, and proceeded at once to encourage

polygamy and other heathen practices. Another bishop was appointed, but

Dr. Colenso determined not to be superseded, and a scene of wrangling and

litigation ensued, painful to contemplate. Churches have been built in

several towns for the benefit of the settlers, but not much has been done

for the religious instruction of the natives by the Church of England.

The American Board of Foreign Missions sent out missionaries in 1834.

They were men of superior learning and intelligence. They have labored

chiefly among the natives. By their literary ability and persevering

efforts they have rendered good service to the cause of God by the

part they have taken in the translation of the Scriptures and their

remonstrances with Bishop Colenso. The Berlin, Hermannsburg, Swedish,

Norwegian, London and Wesleyan Missionary Societies have representatives

in Natal. The Dutch Reformed Church and the Scotch Presbyterians have a

few ministers and churches as have also the Free Church of Scotland and

the Independents.

The Rev. James Scott of Impolweni, Natal, writes to the _Free Church

Monthly_ in reference to an interesting work among the Dutch Boers, and

extending to the Zulus in the northern portion of Natal about Greytown.

Most of the Boers belong to the Dutch Reformed Church, and while they

have attended outwardly to Christian ordinances, they have heretofore

cared little for the native population. Three years ago a religious

awakening began among these Boers, and the genuineness of this interest

was shown by their desire to reach the Zulus, whom they had regarded

as little better than animals. There are now fifteen preaching places

where the Gospel is proclaimed, and which Mr. Scott says are simply the

farmhouses of the Boers. He speaks of seeing eighty Boers and three or

four hundred Zulus gather together for worship. The Zulus come from

kraals and villages, both old and young, some clothed, but most of

them heathen in their blankets. Over one hundred in Greytown have been

formed into a native church in connection with the Dutch church. This

work is now being carried forward under the direction of a committee

of the Dutch farmers, employing three native Evangelists. One of these

evangelists is the son of the Zulu warrior who in 1836, at the signal

from Dingaan, the cruel tyrant, fell upon the Dutch leader Retief and his

party of about seventy men, murdering them all in cold blood. This father

still lives, and is a member of the Christian church and listens gladly

to his son as he preaches the gospel of peace.

[Illustration: NATIVE WARRIOR.]

The Orange Free State is an independent Dutch republic. The whites,

Dutch, English, and other Europeans greatly outnumber the colored

persons, who are of different tribes, but chiefly half-castes. The

religious instruction of these people is fairly provided for by the

different agencies now at work among them. The Dutch Reformed church of

course takes the lead, and they have erected places of worship, appointed

ministers, and gathered congregations in all the towns and villages

and in many of the rural districts. The Berlin and Wesleyan Missionary

Societies are also doing a good work especially among the wandering

tribes of Bechuanas, Baralongs, and Korannas. In Zululand, previous to

the war in 1879, the Propagation Society of the Church of England, and

the Hermannsburg and Norwegian Missionary Societies, had established

stations, and attempted the evangelization of the natives, but with very

slender results. On the breaking out of hostilities, all the missionaries

and teachers had to leave the country. They have since returned and gone

to work under more favorable auspices.

It is stated that a nephew of the late King Cetewayo, after six years in

Sweden in theological and other studies has gone back to carry on mission

work in his native land.

No people in South Africa have benefited more by missionary labor than

those in Basutoland. The agents of the French Evangelical Society have

taken the lead in the work, having entered the field in 1833. They have

many flourishing stations, and their efforts have been very successful

in converting the heathen and in diffusing among the people general

knowledge calculated to promote their civilization and social elevation.

The Wesleyan missionaries have also established important and prosperous

stations. By the presence and influence of the missionaries, industrious

habits have become the distinctive characteristics of the Christian

Basutos. The commercial relations of the country have been facilitated. A

great impulse has been given to agriculture, in so much that the general

aspect of the country, even in those parts that have not come under the

influence of the Gospel, has been transformed. This has been strongly

testified to by Mr. Griffiths, the British commissioner.

One of the most pleasing incidents in Pinto’s narrative is his meeting

with the Coillard missionary family at Luchuma, on the Cuando. They were

French missionaries, and the family was composed of Mr. and Mrs. Coillard

and a niece, Elise. At the time of the meeting, Mr. Coillard was on his

way to King Lobossi, to receive his reply to a request to enter his

country for missionary purposes——a request which, by the way, was denied.

This failure made it necessary for Mr. Coillard to return to Bamanguato,

so the family and Pinto joined resources and took up the line of march

together.

More than fifty years ago the land of the Basutos, whose boundaries touch

the colonies of the Cape and of Natal on the south and of the Orange

Free State on the west, became the abode of numerous French Protestant

missionaries. They worked so faithfully that the native sense of savagery

disappeared and the Basutos came to be the most civilized of the South

African tribes. Now the Christian schools of Basuto number thousands

of pupils. After a time the missionaries extended their field of work,

but were finally headed off by the Boers and forced back to Pretoria.

It was then that François Coillard was placed in charge of the Leribe

Mission. He pushed his way north amid hardships and danger, till made a

prisoner by the Matebelis and dragged before their chief, Lo-Bengula.

What the missionary and the ladies of his family suffered during the time

they remained in the power of that terrible chief is a sad and painful

story. They were at length released and ordered to leave the country.

On reaching Shoshong, the capital of Bamanguato, Coillard determined to

renew his efforts in another direction. So he struck out for the Baroze

region, having first sent a request to King Lobossi for admission and

countenance. It was while on this mission to the Upper Zambesi that Pinto

met him and his family. Pinto says of him: “He and his wife had resided

in Africa for twenty years. He is warmly attached to the aborigines,

to whose civilization he has devoted his life. He is the best and

kindest man I ever came across. To a superior intelligence he unites an

indomitable will and the necessary firmness to carry out any enterprise,

however difficult.”

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE COILLARD CAMP.]

On the south side of the Zambesi and north of latitude 24°, Africa is

divided from sea to sea into three distinct races. On the east are

the Vatuas; between are the Matebelis, or Zulus; westward are the

Bamanguatos. They are all sworn enemies. The king of the latter, at

the time of Pinto’s visit was Khama, a Christian convert, educated by

the English, a civilized man of intelligence and superior good sense.

True, he usurped the throne, but he treated his family with leniency,

and became the idol of his people. Unlike every other native governor

in Africa, Khama was unselfish. He spent his wealth for his people, and

encouraged all to labor, that they might grow rich in herds and flocks.

And they were not only rich in cattle, but were fine agriculturists;

fond, too, of out-door sports, being experts in the hunting of game, as

the antelope, ostrich, giraffe, elephant, etc. Though a Portuguese and

influenced by the Latin church, Pinto gives this account of missionary

work in South Central Africa: “How is it that in the midst of so many

barbarous peoples there should be one so different from the others? It is

due, I firmly believe, to the English missionaries. If I do not hesitate

to aver that the labors of many missionaries, and especially of many

African missionaries, are sterile, or even worse, I am just as ready to

admit, from the evidence of my own senses, that others yield favorable,

or apparently favorable results.

“Man is but fallible, and it is easy to conceive that when far removed

from the social influences by which he has been surrounded from his

infancy, lost, so to speak, amid the ignorant peoples of Africa, and

inhabiting an inhospitable clime, his mind should undergo a remarkable

change. This must be the general rule, which has, of course, its

exceptions. The exceptions are the men who rest their faith on those

‘blossoms of the soul’ which give comfort to the wrecked mariner and aid

the monk to suffer martyrdom at the hands of those to whom he brings the

blessings of civilization. They who possess these inestimable treasures

may, if left to themselves, pursue their way and attain to a sublime

end, but such are veritable exceptions. Flesh is weak, and weaker still

is human spirit. Were it otherwise, we might dispense with laws and

governments, and society would be organized on a different basis. The

‘blossoms of the soul’ would suffice to govern the world.

[Illustration: AT HOME AFTER THE HUNT.]

“The passions to which man is subject will often lead the missionary——but

a man and with all a man’s weakness——to pursue a wrong course. The strife

between Catholics and Protestants in the African missions is an example

of this. The Protestant missionaries (I mean, of course, the bad ones)

say to the negro. ‘The Catholic missionary is so poor he cannot even

afford to buy a wife,’ and thus seek to injure him, for it is as great a

crime to be poor in Africa as in Europe. On the other hand the Catholics

leave no stone unturned to throw discredit on the Protestants. From this

strife springs revolt, the real cause of mission barrenness, where so

many beliefs are struggling for mastery. To the south of the tropics the

country swarms with missionaries, and to the south of the tropics England

is engaged in perpetual war with the native populations. It is because

the evil labors of many undo the good labors of some.

“Let us however, put aside the evil ones and speak only of the good. I

have spoken of King Khama and his Bamanguato people. The king’s work

was well done, but those who made it possible deserve more credit. The

first workman in that field was Rev. Mr. Price, recently charged with the

mission at Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika. The second was Rev. Mr. Mackenzie,

the Kuruman missionary. The third was the Rev. Mr. Eburn, now among these

people. It is with the utmost pleasure I cite these worthy names, and put

them forward as noble examples to all workers in the fields of African

civilization.”

The above named Rev. Mr. Mackenzie took charge of the Kuruman mission

in the Crown Colony of Bechuanaland in 1876, and his first work was to

found and build a memorial institution to his predecessor, the lamented

Dr. Moffat, for the education of native ministers. A fund of $100,000

was subscribed in England for this purpose and soon a substantial set

of structures arose as a witness to Dr. Wm. Mackenzie’s zeal and the

profound respect in which Dr. Moffat was held.

[Illustration: MOFFAT INSTITUTION——KURUMAN.]

Says the Rev. A. Boegner: “Basutoland has frequently been saved from the

destruction of its nationality by the intervention of the missionaries,

and the natives blessed their name. The result in respect to education

is that we have 80 elementary schools, having together 4,666 pupils,

besides the normal school and the higher girls’ school, with 30 or 40

pupils, and 15 industrial, biblical, and theological school stations, 94

out-stations, 19 missionaries, 176 native workers, 6,029 communicants and

3,412 catechumens.”

In Bechuanaland many of the tribes, especially the Batlapins and the

Baralongs, have for several years past been favored with the means of

religious instruction by the agents of the London and Wesleyan Missionary

Societies. It was among these people that the celebrated Dr. Moffat

achieved his greatest success, and it was into their language that he

succeeded in translating the Scriptures. And it was from a station among

them that Dr. Livingstone started on his first adventurous journey of

discovery. Thousands of these people have been to a considerable extent

civilized, evangelized, and many have been taught to read the word of

God for themselves. The earliest attempt to carry the Gospel to the

Bechuanas was made in 1800 by Messrs. Edwards and Kok, agents of the

Dutch Missionary Society in Cape Town. It proved unsuccessful. They were

succeeded by the travellers Lichenstein in 1805, and Burchell in 1812,

and during the latter year by the well-known Rev. John Campbell, who may

be regarded as the earliest pioneer missionary to the Bechuanas, the two

agents of the Cape Town Society being known among the Batlapins rather

as traders than missionaries. In accordance with a request made to Mr.

Campbell by the chief Mothibi, who said, “Send missionaries, I will

be a father to them,” the London Missionary Society appointed Messrs.

Evans and Hamilton to Lallakoo, which they reached in 1816. Their hopes

of a welcome were, however, doomed to disappointment. The Bechuanas,

with Mothibi’s, consent, reyoked the wagons of the missionaries and

sent them away, hooting after them in genuine heathen fashion. They did

not want “the teaching,” fearing it would be with them as with the

people of Griqua Town, “who” they said “once wore a ‘kaross’ but now

wear clothes; once had two wives but now only one.” Mr. Robert Moffat

made the next attempt to introduce the Gospel among these people and

was more successful. We have not space to give even an outline of the

career of this wonderful man. One illustration, however, will suffice to

show at once his character and that of the people among whom he labored

so long and well. During a time of severe drought when the heavens were

as brass and the earth as iron, the cattle were dying rapidly, and the

emaciated people were living on roots and reptiles. The rainmakers were

consulted. They attributed the cause of the drought to the prayers of the

missionaries, and to the bell of the chapel, which they said frightened

the clouds! The chief soon appeared at the missionaries’ door, spear in

hand, with twelve attendants, and ordered them to leave the country,

threatening violent measures if they refused. Mrs. Moffat stood at

her cottage door with a baby in her arms watching the result at this

crisis. Looking the chief straight in the face, Moffat calmly replied:

“We were unwilling to leave you. We are now resolved to stay at our

post. As for your threats we pity you; for you know not what you do. But

although we have suffered much, we do not consider that it amounts to

persecution, and are prepared to expect it from those who know no better.

If resolved to get rid of us you must take stronger measures to succeed,

for our hearts are with you. You may shed my blood, or you may burn our

dwelling; but I know you will not touch my wife and children. As for me,

my decision is made. I do not leave your country.” Then throwing open

his coat, he stood erect and fearless. “Now then,” he proceeded, “if

you will, drive your spears to my heart; and when you have slain me, my

companions will know that the hour is come for them to depart.” Turning

to his attendants the chief said, “These men must have ten lives. When

they are so fearless of death, there must be something of immortality.”

All danger was now past. The intrepid missionary had got access to their

hearts, and they were, for the time at least, subdued.

The country long known as Griqualand is situated beyond the Orange river,

and around its junction with the Vaal.

[Illustration: MOFFAT’S COURAGE.]

The Griquas are a mixed race, of which there are several clans vulgarly

called “Bastards,” being the descendants of Dutch Boers and their

Hottentot slaves. They are a tall, athletic, good looking race, of light

olive complexion. They speak a debased _patois_ of the Dutch language, as

do most of the colored inhabitants of South Africa. About the year 1833

the Griquas began to collect and settle in the country which bears their

name, and to rally round a leader or chief named Adam Kok, who displayed

considerable tact and skill in governing the people who acknowledged his

chieftainship. Some time after, a part of the clan separated themselves

from the rest, and gathered round a man named Waterboer, who became

their captain or chief. Both of these chiefs, for many years, received

annual grants from the Colonial Government on condition of their loyalty

and good conduct. They and their people were ultimately removed by an

arrangement with the government authorities to a region known as “No

Man’s Land;” and of late years have become scattered. In all their

locations they are generally now regarded as British subjects, and

they have gradually advanced to a pleasing state of civilization and

general knowledge. They are largely indebted to the missionaries for

the respectable position to which they have attained among the native

tribes. The honored instruments in their moral and social elevation have

chiefly been the agents of the London Missionary Society who have labored

among them for many years with remarkable energy, zeal and success. The

Wesleyan Missionary Society have also some prosperous stations in some

of the Griqua settlements where no other agencies are at work, and the

results of their labors have been very encouraging.

In Namaqualand, under circumstances of peculiar trial and privation

the Wesleyan and Rhenish Societies have labored with commendable zeal

and diligence. Some time ago the Wesleyan stations were by a mutual

arrangement transferred to the German missionaries.

In Damaraland missionaries have labored earnestly for many years, but the

results thus far have been meagre.

What has been the sum total accomplished by the missionary societies in

South Africa?

The Wesleyan Missionary Society began work there in 1814. Extending its

operations by degrees from the Cape Colony to Kaffaria, Natal, and the

Bechuana regions, it now numbers forty stations, sixty missionaries, and

more than 6,000 members. The Rhenish Society which commenced operations

in this field in 1829, now numbers more than 10,000 members; and the

Berlin, which commenced in 1833 and has 8,000 members. The American

Board which entered the field in 1834, has grown into three missions,

the Zulu, the East African and the West African, and now numbers 30

stations, 48 laborers from America, more than 40 native assistants, about

2,000 under instruction and 7,000 adherents. Besides these the French

Society is doing a great work among the Bechuana and other tribes. The

Norwegians are laboring among the Zulus, the Scotch among the Kafirs, the

Hanoverians and the Church of England in Natal and Zululand.

These with a few other organizations make more than a dozen societies at

work in South Africa, occupying more than 200 stations, and employing

about 500 foreign laborers, besides a much larger force of native

helpers. Of the success and value of these labors we get some idea when

we find it estimated that not less than 40,000 souls have been brought in

this way into Christ’s kingdom, 50,000 children gathered into Christian

schools, and 100,000 men and women blessed with the direct teaching of

the Gospel.

EAST AFRICAN MISSIONS.

Leaving South Africa we will now consider briefly what has been done

by the missionaries in Eastern Africa and that part of Central Africa

reached by way of the east coast. Here there seemed to be less opposition

to the entrance of the Gospel than in some other parts of Africa.

Dominant superstitions do not stand so much in the way of its reception.

There is less idolatry or fetish worship, such as is found on the western

coast, and there are fewer barbarous or unnatural rites. The greatest

hindrance has been the Arab slave trade, which, driven from the west

coast had established itself on the east coast. The unwise course of the

Germans who established a commercial enterprise there in 1889 has led to

Arab hostilities that appear disastrous in the extreme to missionary

work for the present, especially among the Ugandas.

[Illustration: LARI AND MADI NATIVES.]

There are very extensive missionary interests in East Africa. No less

than thirteen societies are at work on the coast or in the interior. It

will be more convenient, in considering what has been accomplished, to

note the work done by each society separately, rather than to follow our

usual order of treatment by tribe or locality.

As the Church Missionary Society was first in the field we will notice

its efforts first.

The first missionary was Dr. Krapff, a zealous and devoted German. He

had previously labored for several years among the Lari and Madi natives

of the province of Shoa, and when the Abyssinian government prohibited

his longer residence there he removed to Mombasa, where he laid the

foundation of a new station under promising circumstances. When the way

appeared to open up for usefulness among the Gallas and other important

tribes, Dr. Krapff was joined by four additional laborers who were sent

out by the society to aid him in his work. Their headquarters were at

Kisulidini and the mission had every promise of success. But death soon

thinned the ranks and disappointed many hopes. Only one of the missionary

band, Mr. Rebmann, had strength to hold out against the climate. He

remained at his solitary post of duty several years after the Doctor

had been obliged to embark for Europe; but in 1856 he was driven by the

hostile incursions of savage native tribes to take refuge in the island

of Mombasa, and for two years the mission on the mainland seemed to be at

an end. Mr. Rebmann resolved not to lose sight of its ruins, however, and

employed his waiting time in preparing a translation of the Bible into

the language of the people among whom he labored. At length the desire

of the lonely missionary was gratified by a cordial invitation to return

to Kisulidini, and the hearty welcome he received on going there proved

that there was further work for him to do among this people. For years

he labored single-handed among this people and managed to keep alive the

spark of light which Dr. Krapff had been the means of kindling. After

long and patient waiting relief came. The deep interest called forth by

Dr. Livingstone’s last despatches and death, stirred up the church at

home to fresh efforts on behalf of the African race, and a much needed

reinforcement was sent out to strengthen the mission on the eastern

coast, including Mr. Price and Jacob Wainwright, Livingstone’s faithful

negro servant. When they arrived at Kisulidini they found Mr. Rebmann

aged and feeble, and almost blind, but still the centre of a little

band of native converts at the old mission premises. This mission now

comprises eight stations with Mombasa as its base. The constituency at

these stations is composed chiefly of liberated slaves, who are rescued

by British cruisers from slave dhows and handed over to the mission, now

living in comfort as free men, cultivating their own little plots of

ground, building their own little huts on the society’s land, enjoying

the rest of the Lord’s day, seeing their children taught to read and

write like the white man, and having access at all times for counsel and

guidance to patient and sympathizing Englishmen.

Recently, their former masters combined and threatened to destroy the

stations if their slaves were not given up. How this catastrophy was

averted by the tact and generosity of Mr. Mackenzie the following will

tell: “At Mombasa, Frere Town and Rabai, on the east coast of Africa, the

English Church Missionary Society has for some time been carrying on a

work similar to that which has been so greatly blessed at Sierra Leone

and other places on the west coast. The natives who have been rescued

from the Arab slave vessels by the British cruisers have been taken to

the first-named towns, where they have been cared for and instructed by

the missionaries of the society, and a large number of them have become

new creatures in Christ Jesus, and are now diligent in tilling the soil

or in following other industrial pursuits.

“For several years fugitive slaves from the adjoining country have sought

refuge at the mission stations from the oppressions of their Mohammedan

masters. Every effort has been made by the missions to prevent mere

runaways from settling around the stations; but it has lately been found

that many who came and placed themselves under Christian teaching, and

who were supposed to be free natives, were really fugitive slaves. Many

of them have embraced Christianity, been baptized, and are leading

‘quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty.’

“Suddenly the former Mohammedan masters of the fugitives combined and

threatened destruction to the missions unless they were given up again

to slavery. It has been a time of great anxiety to the missionaries,

and in this crisis they could only commit all to the Lord. Happily the

danger has been averted by the wise and timely action of Mr. Mackenzie,

the chief agent of the new Imperial British East Africa Company, whose

headquarters are at Mombasa. Mr. Mackenzie saw that if the _régime_

of this politico-commercial company began with the restoration of a

thousand escaped slaves to the slave owners, its influence would be

seriously injured. He has, therefore, undertaken to compensate the

Arab slave-owners, on condition that the whole of this fugitive slave

population, a large portion of which is Christian, are declared free

forever. This arrangement has delighted all parties. A grand feast has

been given by the Mohammedans to Mr. Mackenzie, while the slaves are set

free and the missions are saved.”

This society had also a line of stations stretching from Zanzibar to

Uganda. They were nine in number, beginning with Mambola and Mpwapwa,

nearly due west from Zanzibar, and including Usambiro, Msalala and Nasa,

south of Victoria Nyanza, and Rubaga, in Uganda, north of the great lake.

The origin of the mission in Uganda was on this wise: “When Stanley went

away from Uganda, Mtesa, the king, said to him, ‘Stamee, say to the white

people, when you write to them, that I am like a man sitting in darkness,

or born blind, and that all I ask is that I may be taught how to see,

then I shall continue a Christian while I live.’ Mtesa’s appeal, through

Stanley, to English Christians, had its response. The Church Missionary

Society sent several missionaries, who were heartily welcomed by Mtesa,

and protected as long as he lived.”

As public attention has recently, and for different reasons, been very

generally directed to Uganda, it may not be amiss to give a more detailed

account of the situation and prospects there.

Near the shores of those majestic lakes——Albert and Victoria

Nyanza——which give rise to the Nile, are large tribes, akin to one

another in speech and habit, and quite advanced in civilization, as

things go in Africa. They are the Baganda, Luganda and Uganda, all of

which have been visited and described by Stanley and other well-known

travellers. Of these, the Uganda are the most numerous and advanced. This

region was for a long time looked upon as a fair field for missionary

enterprise, irrespective of the fact that it had been an old and favorite

stamping ground for Arab traders and slave dealers, whose influence would

naturally be against Christian intervention. But in 1876, missionaries

went out from England, and founded several missions, mostly in the Uganda

country. They proved to be prosperous, and fast became the centres of

Christian communities, whose influence was felt from one lake to the

other. But after over ten years of prosperity, a civil war broke out,

instigated by the Arabs, which resulted in the enthronement of Mwanga,

who was hostile to the missionaries and their Christian converts. He

signalized the first year of his reign by the murder of Bishop Hannington

and the massacre of many of his Christian subjects. By 1889, all but one

of this missionary band had perished either through disease or royal

cruelty, and their converts were forced to become refugees. The survivor,

Mr. Mackay, after being held as a hostage for months, was finally

released, and made his escape to Usambiro, where he took up work with the

hope that at no distant day he might be able to extend it back into the

abandoned lake regions.

In his “Emin Pasha in Central Africa,” Mr. R. W. Felkin thus sketches the

character of the two great Uganda kings, Mtesa and Mwanga:

“Mtesa was first heard of in Europe from Speke and Grant, who visited

Uganda in 1862. He professed to trace back his descent to Kintu (or Ham)

the founder of the dynasty. When I visited him in 1879 he was about

45 years of age, a splendid man, some six feet high, well formed and

strongly built. He had an oval face, and his features were well cut.

“He had large, mild eyes, but if roused by anger or mirth they were lit

up by a dangerous fire. He had lost the pure Mhuma features through

admixture of Negro blood, but still retained sufficient characteristics

of that tribe to prevent all doubt as to his origin. All his movements

were very graceful; his hands were slender, well formed, and supple;

he was generally dressed in a simple white Arab kaftan. It is somewhat

difficult to describe his character; he was intensely proud, very

egotistical, and, until near the end of his life, he thought himself to

be the greatest king on earth. In his youth, and in fact until 1878,

there is no doubt that he was cruel, but an illness from which he

suffered certainly softened him.

“His chiefs often said to me, ‘Oh, if Mtesa were well, there would be

plenty of executions.’ It has been said that he was extremely changeable

and fickle, and to superficial observers he was so; that is to say, as

far as his intercourse with Europeans went. If, however, one looks a

little deeper into his character, he finds that his apparent vacillation

was overruled by a fixed idea, which was to benefit his people, increase

his own importance, and to get as much as possible out of the strangers

who visited his court. This explains his being one day a friend to the

Arabs, on another to the Protestants, and on a third to the Catholics. A

newcomer, especially if he had a large caravan, was always the favorite

of the hour. It is not difficult for any one to enter Uganda, but to

get away again is no easy task, unless he is going for a fresh supply

of goods. Mtesa liked Europeans and Arabs to be present at his court;

it gave him prestige, and he also wished his people to learn as much as

they could from the white men, for he well knew and appreciated their

superior knowledge. In manners he was courteous and gentlemanly, and he

could order any one off to execution with a smile on his countenance. His

mental capacity was of a very high order. He was shrewd and intelligent;

he could read and write Arabic, and could speak several native languages.

He had a splendid memory, and enjoyed a good argument very keenly. If he

could only get Protestants, Catholics and Arabs to join in a discussion

before him, he was in his element, and although apparently siding with

one or other, who might happen to be at the time his especial favor, he

took care to maintain his own ground, and I do not believe that he ever

really gave up the least bit of belief in his old Pagan ideas. While too

shrewd and intelligent to believe in the grosser superstitions which find

credit among his people, he was yet so superstitious that if he dreamt

of any of the gods of his country he believed it to be an ill omen, and

offered human sacrifices to appease the anger of the offended deity.

Shortly after I left Uganda, he dreamt of his father, and in consequence

had 500 people put to death. He also believed that if he dreamt of

any living person it was a sign that they meditated treachery, and he

condemned them forthwith to death. This supposed power of divination is

said to be hereditary in the royal race. In concluding my remarks about

Mtesa, I may say that he denied his Wahuma origin; not only, however, did

his features betray him, but many of the traditions he held regarding

his ancestors, especially his descent from Ham, point conclusively to an

origin in the old Christianity of Abyssinia.

“When I was in Uganda, Mtesa had 200 or 300 women always residing at his

court. He did not know exactly how many wives he had, but said that they

certainly numbered 700. He had seventy sons and eighty-eight daughters.

“Mwanga is the present king of Uganda, having been chosen by the three

hereditary chiefs at the death of his father, Mtesa, and it is certainly

to be attributed to the influence of the missionaries in Uganda, that the

usual bloodshed which attends the succession to the throne in Uganda,

did not take place. On ascending the throne he was about 16 years of

age, and up to that time had been a simple, harmless youth, but his high

position soon turned his head, and he became suspicious, abominably cruel

and really brutal. He began to drink and to smoke _bang_, and up to the

present time his rule has been characterized by tyranny and bloodshed,

far surpassing anything that happened in his father’s time. Nor does he

appear to possess those good characteristics which certainly caused his

father to deserve some respect. A number of Christians, Protestants and

Catholics have been tortured and burned at the stake by his orders, and

Bishop Hannington was murdered by his command at Lubwa, on the borders of

Uganda.”

A writer in the _N. Y. Evangelist_ observes further:

“Of course, Mwanga was a coward as well as a cruel and bloodstained

despot. Because he made Uganda impenetrable, no direct news from Wadelai

about the movements of Stanley or Emin Pasha could reach Zanzibar. Very

naturally he was obliged to face an insurrection. To save his worthless

life he fled from his kingdom, and his older brother, Kiwewa, succeeded

him. Because under his rule the missionaries were again in favor, Kiwewa

was soon forced to abdicate before an insurrection incited by the Arabs,

whom the policy of his brother had brought into the kingdom, and in

which such of his own subjects who opposed the missionaries cheerfully

participated. While about a score of missionaries escaped unharmed,

all missionary property was destroyed, many native missionaries were

murdered, the Arabs became dominant in Uganda, and the kingdom, it

may be for several years, is closed against Christianity. The living

missionaries have quite recently been ransomed.

“What is to be the influence of this new Arab kingdom in Central Africa?

This, with many, is a pressing question. In answering it we must remember

that these so-called Arabs really have in their veins no Arab blood. They

are coast Arabs of the lowest classes, and the proud and strong Uganda

chiefs will not submit for any considerable length of time to the rule

of any such men. They may use such men; they will never become their

slaves. The country is more likely to be broken up into hostile sections.

These may wear themselves out in wars against each other, and thus may be

realized the hope that the British East African Company, from their new

territory between Victoria Nyanza and the coast, would push its influence

and its operations over Uganda, and the whole lake region of Central

Africa. These Arab slave-traders are certainly not the men to construct

or reconstruct an empire. Those who know them best see no prospect that

they will be able by intrigue, which is their only agency, to sustain

themselves in Uganda.

“The character and habits of the Uganda people seem to forbid their

enslavement. They are the only people in Central Africa that clothe

themselves from head to foot. Besides their own ingenious utensils for

housekeeping, the chase and war, thousands of European weapons and

implements are found in their possession, and being ready workers in

iron, they immediately imitate what they import. They are apt linguists,

and their children have rapidly acquired the French and English languages

from the missionaries. They have neither idols nor fetishes. They have

no affiliations with Mohammedanism, and are not likely to become its

subjects for any considerable time. There is still good reason to hope

for a better future for Uganda.”

[Illustration: TINDER-BOX, FLINT AND STEEL.]

The London Missionary Society has ever been forward to enter new fields

of labor. On Livingstone’s return to England, after his great journey

across the continent of Africa in 1856, he urged this society, in whose

service he had previously been engaged, to establish a mission on the

banks of the Zambesi, with a tribe of natives known as the Makololo,

with the view of reaching other tribes in the interior through them. A

mission was organized accordingly, which was to start from the Cape of

Good Hope direct for the interior. This journey was to be made in the

usual South African style, namely, in wagons drawn by long teams of oxen.

Livingstone himself went round by the eastern coast, purposing to meet

the missionaries in the valley of the Zambesi, and to introduce them

to the chiefs with whom he was personally acquainted. The missionaries

selected for this purpose were Revs. Helmore and Price, the first of whom

was a middle-aged minister, with a wife and family, and had labored in

South Africa for several years previously, whilst Mr. Price was a young

man recently married, and was entering upon mission work for the first

time. The incidents of the journey, as well as the issue of this mission

were the most afflictive and distressing. The mission wagons had scarcely

passed the boundary of the Cape Colony when water and grass for the oxen

became scarce, and their progress was accordingly slow and dreary. Many

of their oxen died and their places were supplied with difficulty by

cattle purchased from the natives. When they came to cross the outskirts

of the desert of Kalahara their sufferings were terrible. They at length

reached the valley of the Zambesi where they had an ample supply of grass

and water; but they soon found themselves in a low, swampy, unhealthy

country, and when they reached their destination in the Makololo country,

they did not meet with the cordial reception from the chief and his

people which they expected. Dr. Livingstone, who was engaged in exploring

the lower branches of the Zambesi was moreover unable to meet them as he

intended. They naturally became discouraged; and before they got anything

done of consequence in the way of teaching the people, the chief still

withholding his consent to their movements, the country fever broke

out among them with fearful violence. Mr. Helmore’s four children, who

suffered so much from thirst in the desert, were smitten down one after

another and died. They were buried but a short time when graves were made

beside them for both their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Price began to think of

retracing their steps to the Cape Colony, and at length with heavy hearts

they yoked the oxen to the wagons and started toward civilization. But in

crossing the desert Mrs. Price also died, so that Mr. Price was left to

return alone.

[Illustration: BOUND FOR THE INTERIOR DURING THE RAINY SEASON.]

In 1877 in response to an application made by the son and successor of

the chief in Makololo, the Rev. J. D. Hepburn, of Shoshong, and outpost

of the Bechuana mission, commenced a mission on Lake Ngami, two native

evangelists who had completed their studies at Kuruman were settled there

and are doing good work.

The London Society goes further west than any of the other societies

and plants two stations on Lake Tanganyika, and one at Urambo in the

Unyamwezi, south of the Victoria Nyanza and near the stations of the

Church Missionary Society.

The Universities’ Mission has twelve stations, one in Zanzibar, four in

the Usambara country north of Zanzibar, four on or near the river Rovuma

and three on the east shore of Lake Nyassa.

The mission of the Free Church of Scotland on the shores of Lake Nyassa

was founded in 1861 by Rev. Dr. James Stewart. Reinforcements were sent

out in 1875. They took with them the steam launch Llala to be used upon

the waters of Lake Nyassa. In 1876 Dr. Wm. Black, an ordained medical

missionary, an agriculturist, an engineer, and a weaver, joined them. In

1879 Miss Watterston joined the staff, as female medical missionary and

superintendent of the girls’ boarding and training school. In 1880 they

met with a great loss in the death of their agriculturist, John Gunn, who

had proved himself helpful in every department of work.

The Free Church of Scotland has recently opened a new mission at Malinda,

on the high plain north of Lake Nyassa. The station is surrounded by

seventeen villages, embosomed in gardens of magnificent bananas. At

Karonga two services are held every Sabbath, and the congregation numbers

600 natives. Dr. Cross attempted to push his work into the highlands,

but was driven back, and compelled to rely on Capt. Lugard’s armed force

of 150 natives. These aggressive movements against the missions in

Nyassaland, as elsewhere, are attributable to Arab slave traders, who are

the worst enemies Christianity has to contend with in Africa. They now

have five stations on Lake Nyassa.

The Established Church of Scotland Mission was founded in 1875 by

Mr. Henry Henderson. The staff comprised a medical missionary, an

agriculturist, a blacksmith, a carpenter, a joiner and a seaman and

boatbuilder. To Mr. Henderson belongs the credit of having selected an

incomparable site. It was originally intended that the mission should be

planted in the neighborhood of Lake Nyassa; but he found a more suitable

locality in the highlands above the Shiré, east of the cataracts, and

midway between Magomero and Mount Soché. The ground rises from the river

in a succession of terraces. It is about 3,000 feet above the sea, and

extends from twelve to fifteen miles in breadth. Gushing springs and

flowing streams abound. The scenery is beautiful and picturesque. The

soil is fertile. There is abundance of good timber and iron ore. The

chiefs are friendly and the people are willing to receive instruction.

And, what is an essential requisite, the climate is in a high degree

salubrious. In the words of Livingstone, “it needs no quinine.”

The settlement, which is named Blantyre, after Livingstone’s birth-place,

was planned and laid out under the superintendence of Dr. Stewart and Mr.

James Stewart. On the farm and gardens surrounding, over 500 natives of

both sexes are employed. Mr. Henderson having returned, on the completion

of the special work for which he was appointed, Rev. Duff Macdonald and

wife were sent out in 1878. They were soon after recalled on account

of difficulties arising from the mission’s claim to exercise civil

jurisdiction over the settlement. Rev. David Clement Scott was appointed

to take their place.

One of the most important works in connection with Livingstonia, the

name of the Free Church of Scotland’s Mission, and Blantyre Mission, was

the formation of a road, projected by Dr. Stewart and surveyed by Mr.

J. Stewart. It varies from six to ten feet in width, and extends from

the Upper Shiré, at the head of the cataracts, for a distance of about

thirty-five miles to Blantyre, and thence for nearly an equal distance

through a steep and rugged country to Ramakukan’s, at the foot of the

cataract. Facilities are thus afforded for communication with the coast.

The expense of its construction was borne equally by the two missions. A

traveller who has frequently visited this region writes as follows:

“The outlet for the waters of Lake Nyassa is the river Shiré which

flows into the Zambesi. Except for a short distance in one part, this

river is navigable throughout its course; and at about sixty or seventy

miles after it leaves the lake it takes a bend westward, and here below

Matope, a station of the African Lakes Company, it becomes unnavigable

by reason of the Murchison Cataracts. Below these is another station of

the African Lakes Company at Katunga’s, and from here there is no further

difficulty in navigating the river. All goods, therefore, and passengers

bound for Nyassa, are landed from the African Lakes Company’s steamer at

Katunga’s, and after a journey of some seventy miles across a ridge of

high ground are put on the river again at Matope. About half-way between

Katunga’s and Matope is the African Lakes Company’s store and settlement

at Mandala, and little more than a mile from it the flourishing mission

village of Blantyre of the Established Church of Scotland. It is

wonderful to see this village, with its gardens, schools, and houses, in

the midst of Africa. The writer has twice, within the last three years,

when visiting Nyassa, experienced the generous hospitality of Mandala

and Blantyre, and so can speak from his own personal observation. Being

situated on such high ground, the climate is much more favorable to

Europeans than at most mission stations in that region. It is easier

also, for the same reason, to grow fruits and vegetables imported from

Europe. It is difficult to overestimate the effect of such a settlement

as a civilizing agency in the country. Mr. Hetherwick, who was in charge

of the station for some time in Mr. Scott’s absence, has mastered the

language of the great Yao tribe, and has lately published a translation

of St. Matthew’s Gospel, which shows a wonderful grasp of the genius of

the language. Mr. Hetherwick has now returned to his mission station,

some fifty miles to the northeast, under Mount Zomba. Mr. Scott is

said to be equally a master of Chinyanja, the language of the Nyassa

tribes. The English government have recognized the important influence

these settlements are likely to have by appointing a consul on Nyassa,

who has lately built a house close to the flourishing coffee and sugar

plantations of Mr. Buchanan under Mount Zomba, about forty miles from

Blantyre, and near Lake Kilwa or Shirwa. Mr. Buchanan is also a good

Yao scholar, and takes care to teach the people, who come to him in

considerable numbers for employment. Situated high up on the slope of

Mount Zomba, which rises precipitously above it, the streams which rush

down from its summit are diverted and distributed so as to form a system

of irrigation. Mr. Buchanan’s plantation is a picture of beauty and

prosperity, and offers every prospect of health and permanence.

“When we come to Lake Nyassa, we find missions established on each

side of the lake. On the west side are the stations at Cape Maclear

and Bandawe, while connected with the latter are sub-stations, among

which is an important mission to the Angoni, a marauding tribe of Zulu

origin. Dr. Laws, at Bandawe, has been a long time in the country, and

has thoroughly won the confidence of the people. On one occasion, when

the writer visited him, some five or six hundred people assembled in

his schools, in which large numbers of children are taught daily. The

Universities’ Missions are on the east side of the lake.”

The United Methodist Free Churches in 1863 began a mission at Ribé,

about eighteen miles north of Mombasa. The ministers selected for this

service were the Revs. New and Wakefield. For several years they were

engaged in preparatory work, erecting buildings, cultivating garden

grounds, exploring the country, learning the native language, preparing

translations, teaching school, and preaching as they had opportunity.

Their difficulties were numerous and their progress slow. The unhealthy

character of the climate here, as on the western coast, is the greatest

hindrance to the progress of the work. Rev. C. New fell a sacrifice to

its fatal influence in 1876, and Mrs. Wakefield died later, but others

have taken their places. They now have two stations in the Mombasa

District, Ribé and Joursee and one in Gallaland.

Several German societies are also represented in East Africa. The New

Kirchen Society has had since 1887 a station at Ngao, on the Tana in

the Suabali country, with two missionaries. The Evangelical Lutheran

Missionary Society of Bavaria has stations at Junba, and at Mbangu among

the Wakamba, six hours inland, with three missionaries. The Berlin

Society have stations at Zanzibar and Dar-es-Salam where one of the

massacres took place.

The Roman Catholics——French and German——have several stations in East

Africa. The French have three stations on or near Lake Victoria Nyanza,

the most important of which is the one in Uganda under Pere Lourdel; two

at Lake Tanganyika; one at Bagamoya, west of Zanzibar, and one or two

others. The Jesuits have also a few stations, and the German Catholics

have one at Dar-es-Salam. These are all the societies at work in East

Africa. As we look at their achievements, to human ken they do not appear

commensurate with what they have cost. We do not mean of course in money,

though that has been great, one society alone having spent $500,000,

but in the sacrifice of human health and human lives. Four bishops,

Mackenzie, Steere, Hannington, Parker, and a great army of missionaries,

some of them nobly and highly-gifted men, have given up their lives for

East Africa. We can but reverence the heroism which has led them forth

to die in a strange land. The apparent results are meagre and even some

of these seem likely to be destroyed; but we dare not say their lives

have been needlessly wasted. In human warfare when a fortress has to be

stormed, does the knowledge of the fact that many of the flower of his

army will perish in the attempt, cause the general to hesitate? Do the

soldiers refuse to obey the command, because the undertaking is fraught

with danger? Were they to do so they would be branded as cowards. East

Africa is a part of the world and Christ’s command surely includes the

taking of such almost impregnable fortresses as frown upon his soldiers

in that dark region. Then, too, the time has been short; great results

may follow in the future the work that has already been done.

We have not written anything concerning missionary work in the Soudan

simply because nothing has been done in that vast region. Dr. Guinness

says of it: “The Soudan is the true home of the negro, a vaster region

than the Congo, which is 4,000 miles across, with its twelve nations,

and not a mission station. It is the last region of any magnitude

unpenetrated by the Gospel.” Through Dr. Guinness’ influence a number

of the most active workers in the Y. M. C. A., in Kansas, Nebraska and

Minnesota have decided to be pioneers in this densely populated part

of Africa. They propose to enter, by the way of Liberia and the Kong

mountains, the Soudan of the Niger and Lake Tchad, where are nearly

100,000,000 of people without a missionary. They mean to form a living

tie between that region and their associations and churches at home.

We have followed the footsteps of the missionaries over all the Dark

Continent only stopping to note the most important of their achievements.

Their sacrifices have been recorded and will not be forgotten. Though

their sufferings have been great, they have been of short duration, for

Africa seems to be the “short cut” to the skies.

We close our account of missionary work in Africa with the following

from Mr. Grant: “The successes of the past, the openings of the present,

and the demand for the future, should awaken a redoubled devotion to

the blessed work. In no age of the world, in no history of continents,

can anything be found so surprising as the discoveries and developments

made in Africa since the days of those pioneer missionaries, Schmidt and

Vanderkemp. It would take long to tell how her bays have been sounded

since their time, how her plains have been spanned, her mountains scaled,

her rivers threaded, lakes discovered, diamonds found, and a goodly

number of grand highways projected into even the remotest parts of that,

till of late little known, yet most marvelous land of the sun; and all

under the gracious ordering of the Lord, that men freighted with the

blessings of the Gospel of God’s own dear Son might enter and occupy.

Ethiopia, all Africa, is on tiptoe of expectancy, only waiting to know

who God is, that she may stretch out her hands to Him, and be lifted into

His truth and grace.”

AFRIC’S LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.

ARNOT IN CENTRAL AFRICA.

“My idea of Africa had been that of a land very much desert, or else

marshy and almost uninhabitable. But here was a region rich, fertile

and beautiful, well watered, and, better still, with many people living

all along the banks of the rivers. Of course, we had varied kinds of

receptions. At one place, among the Bakuti, it was very remarkable how

the people seemed to open their ears and hearts and gave their time. I

spent ten days among them. The first five I went among their villages,

having large meetings. As I could speak a dialect which many of them

understood, I could explain myself quite freely to them. They became

very much interested in what they heard me say, and they said among

themselves: ‘We are only tiring the white man out by coming day after

day to our villages; we will go to him.’ So, for the last five days they

gathered together, and we had all-day meetings——a most extraordinary

time, I might say, for Africa. They kept up the discussions among

themselves, and before I left at least two of the men stood up in the

midst of their tribe and declared for Jesus before all their friends, in

their own simple language.

“We had to leave these people, and went on traveling from day to day. At

one point we had rather a different reception. We had pitched our camp

in the midst of long grass. Toward evening, as we were getting things

in order, we found the grass round our camp was on fire. As soon as the

men succeeded in extinguishing the flames eight of them were missing.

Then we understood an enemy had surrounded us, set the grass on fire,

and carried off all the stragglers. There was nothing to do but to find

their trail and follow them up. After a ten-miles’ journey we reached a

little village in the forest where they were resting. They thought we

had come to fight with them, and they rushed out with their guns, bows

and arrows, and spears, to receive us. My men, thirty or forty in number,

being only Africans, got into fighting order and began to load their guns

for action. I was a little way behind, and did not take in the situation

at once. Seeing how things were going, I ran forward, seized a little

stool, and held it up in the air as a signal of peace. This arrested the

enemy, and at last two of them came forward to hear what I had to say.

After a little talk it turned out that the whole thing was a mistake.

They thought we had come to their country to rob and plunder them, and

quite naturally, in self-defense, they wished to have the first hit at

us. Next day we spent the time in receiving presents and telling them of

the things we had been speaking to the people all along the road.

“At another point on the journey there was a chief who had heard about

the things of God. He was intensely interested in the reports, and he

came himself, to see me. Before we had time to settle down to speak,

he said: ‘All the huntsmen have been called in; the women are in from

the fields; we are all here, and we want you at once to begin your

conversation with us about the Great Spirit and those things you have

been talking of along the road.’ After talking with them for some hours,

the chief asked me to go with him to their village. He said there were

some old people there who could not come down to hear me with the others,

he wanted me very much to go and see them. I went up to the village and

conversed with these poor old broken-down people, one after another, and

it was most touching. They shook hands with me and looked me in the face

with such a look! Some of them were too old to understand the things I

had been telling to the younger people; they could only look wistfully at

me and shake me by the hand. It reminded me of an old man I had spoken

with on the upper Zambesi. After leaving my hut he came back to the door

and said: ‘It is so strange for me to hear these things for the first

time, and I so old.’ Truly, it must strike them strangely. There are

many physical difficulties connected with travel in Africa, and I would

be the last to urge any particular individual to go out there. But there

are no difficulties in the preaching of the Word. As soon as you learn a

little of the language you can have all the attention of the people and

all their time. I may say, in going among them, it is important to get

some standing at their native courts. I have always taken the place of an

ambassador from another country, and have demanded from them a hearing.

This is the surest way of getting the attention, not only of the chief,

but of all the people.”

KILLED BY AN ELEPHANT.

“A sad termination of an heroic defender of a righteous cause, was the

death of Mr. Deane, the recent chief of Stanley Falls Station, Congo

State. Capt. Coquilhat, one of Mr. Stanley’s faithful coadjutors in

founding the State of Congo, gives, in his official report, the following

statement: ‘In August last (1887), a female slave escaped from the Arab

camp at Stanley Falls, and sought refuge in the Congo State Station

there. Her surrender was demanded and refused. The Arabs were very angry,

and made threats of war, which Mr. Deane disregarded. The slave-hunters

had about 2,000 troops, while the garrison of the station numbered about

fifty. The steamer Stanley then arrived, and the Arabs kept quiet till

she left; but, the day after her departure, they attacked the station

without warning, and, in course of three days, made four attacks, which

were repulsed, the garrison losing two men and the Arabs sixty. At the

end of the third day, the Haussa soldiers and the Bangalas refused to

fight longer, as their rifle ammunition was spent.’ [The Haussas are

native soldiers hired by the Congo State. They come from near Acra, on

the Gulf of Guinea. The Bangalas belong to a desperate and warlike tribe,

that fought Stanley on his first trip down the Congo.] ‘So these native

soldiers took to their canoes at nightfall on the 26th of August, and

went down the river. Mr. Deane and Mr. Dubois, the only white men in

the garrison, remained behind with eight men to fire the buildings and

destroy the stores. This they did, blowing up the two cannon and the

remaining gunpowder, and then escaped themselves from the island, on

which the station was located, to the north bank of the Congo, and made

their way along its bank on foot, in the dark. On their way, the banks

being very steep, Dubois fell into the river. Mr. Deane jumped in after

him, and succeeded in getting him on to a rock; but poor Dubois was

drowned in attempting to get from the rock to the mainland. Deane sought

refuge among the natives, and found them most friendly. They showed him

great devotion, taking him from one place of shelter to another, hiding

him from the Arabs, supplying him with food, and keeping him till he was

rescued.’ The Haussas and Bangalas arrived in their canoes at Bangala

Station, where Capt. Coquilhat was stationed as Commander-in-Chief of

that department, on September 7th. The captain at once went up in the

steamer Henry Reed, then in the service of the Congo Government, and,

finding the Stanley Falls Station in ruins and in the hands of the Arabs,

he went in search of Mr. Deane, and after three days of diligent inquiry,

found him, and rescued him from the fury of the Arabs.

“It is sad to relate, as I learn from Bradley L. Burr, our chief

missionary at Kimpoko, Stanley Pool, that recently Mr. Deane, in an

elephant hunt, was charged and killed by an Upper Congo elephant.

“Those who brave the perils of Africa ought always to be prepared to die.

The destruction of the Arab slave trade, and the redemption of Africa,

will cost the lives of more than 1,000 missionary heroes and heroines.

People who want to run home from Africa before they see the elephant had

better go to Barnum’s show and stay at home.” WM. TAYLOR.

THE AFRICAN PUFF ADDER.

“It is essentially a forest animal, its true habitat being among the

fallen leaves in the deep shade of the trees by the banks of streams.

Now, in such a position, at the distance of a foot or two, its appearance

so exactly resembling the forest bed as to be almost indistinguishable

from it. I was once just throwing myself under a tree to rest, when

stooping to clear the spot, I noticed a peculiar pattern among the

leaves. I started back in horror to find a puff adder of the largest

size, its thick back only visible and its fangs only a few inches from

my face as I stooped. It was lying concealed among fallen leaves so

like itself that but for the exceptional caution which in African

travel becomes a habit, I should certainly have sat down on it, and

to sit down on a puff adder is to sit down for the last time. I think

this semi-somnolent attitude is not always the mere attitude of repose.

This reptile lay lengthwise concealed, all but a few inches, among the

withered leaves. Now, the peculiarity of the puff adder is that he

strikes backward. Lying on the ground, therefore, it commands as it were,

its whole rear, and the moment any part is touched the head doubles

backward with inconceivable swiftness, and the poison fangs close on

their victim. The puff adder in this way forms a sort of horrid trap set

in the woods, which may be altogether unperceived till it shuts with a

sudden spring on its prey.” HENRY DRUMMOND.

THE KASAI REGION.

“I have been here a month, and I am far from regretting my new residence.

Luluaburg resembles none of the other State stations. This is the country

of plantations, of cattle, of large undulated hills covered with short

grass. We lead here rather the life of the Boers (farmers) than that of

the Congo.

“We break bulls to ride, and they are as valuable as horses. They

are sometimes vicious enough, but one becomes accustomed to that.

Nevertheless, a horse could never do what a bull does: swim the rivers,

climb the most rugged hills, and descend the steepest slopes with an

admirable surety of foot and peerless vigor.

“I have broken for my service a huge chestnut bull; he travels very well,

and you would be astonished to see me on that beast overleap obstacle at

a gallop, as easily as the best horse of the course.

[Illustration: TRAVEL ON BULL-BACK TO NATIVE ESCORT.]

“We have already thirty animals at the station. Every day we have butter

and cheese. Mr. Puissant has charge of the dairy, and he performs his

work well.

“As to the natives of the region, they are much the best negroes I know.

In short, I am greatly pleased here, and am never sick.”

Mr. Legat, who sends this news, is the veteran of the Congo State

agents. He was of the party of 1881, and has not left the country since

that epoch.

A LITTLE CONGO HERO.

On the Congo, near the equator, live the Bengala, with whom the explorer,

Stanley, had his hardest battle when he floated down the great river.

They are the most powerful and intelligent of the Upper Congo natives,

and since Capt. Coquilhat, four years ago, established a station in their

country they have become good friends of the whites. A while ago an

exciting event occurred in one of their many villages, and Essalaka, the

chief, went to Capt. Coquilhat to tell him about it.

“You know the big island near my town,” he said. “Well, yesterday, soon

after the sun came up, one of my women and our little boy started for the

island in a canoe. The boy is some dozen of moons old. (Capt. Coquilhat

says about twelve years old.) He said that while his mother was paddling

she saw something in the water, and leaned over to look at it. Then he

saw a crocodile seize his mother and drag her out of the canoe. Then the

crocodile and the woman sank out of sight.

“The paddle was lying in the canoe. The boy picked it up to paddle

back to the village. Then he thought, ‘Oh, if I could only scare the

crocodile and get mother back!’ He could tell by the moving water where

the crocodile was. He was swimming under the surface toward the island.

Then the boy followed the crocodile just as fast as he could paddle. Very

soon the crocodile reached the island and went out on land. He laid the

woman’s body on the ground. Then he went back into the river and swam

away. You know why he did this. He wanted his mate and started out to

find her.

“Then the little boy paddled fast to where his mother was lying. He

jumped out of the boat and ran to her. There was a big wound in her

breast. Her eyes were shut. He felt sure she was dead. He is strong,

but he could not lift her. He dragged her to the canoe. He knew the

crocodile might come back at any moment and kill him, too. He used all

his strength. Little by little he got his mother’s body into the canoe.

Then he pushed away from the shore and started home.

“We had not seen the boy and his mother at all. Suddenly we heard

shouting on the river, and we saw the boy paddling as hard as he could.

Every two or three strokes he would look behind. Then we saw a crocodile

swimming fast toward the canoe. If he reached it you know what he would

do. He would upset it with a blow, and both the boy and his mother would

be lost.

“Eight or nine of us jumped into canoes and started for the boy. The

crocodile had nearly overtaken the canoe, but we reached it in time. We

scared the crocodile away, and brought the canoe to the shore. The boy

stepped out on the ground and fell down. He was so frightened and tired.

We carried him into one of my huts, and took his mother’s body in there,

too. We thought she was dead.

“But after a little while she opened her eyes. She could whisper only

two or three words. She asked for the boy. We laid him beside her on her

arm. She stroked him two or three times with her hand. But she was hurt

so badly. Then she shut her eyes and did not open them or speak again.

Oh! how the little boy cried. But he had saved his mother’s body from the

crocodile.”

As Essalake told this story the tears coursed down his cheek. “I have

seen in this savage tribe,” writes Capt. Coquilhat, “men and their wives

who really love each other, and veritable honeymoons among young couples.

The child feels for his father the fear and respect which his authority

inspires, but he truly loves his mother and has a tender interest in her

even after he becomes a man.”

FORMER OBSTACLES REMOVED.

“Missionaries who go to Africa now, may think they have a hard time, but

they can know but little of the obstacles in the way of the pioneers,

and it will be profitable to notice a few of the things which hindered

the marked success of missionaries fifty years ago, that are now largely

removed.

“(1) The terrible _slave trade_ prevailed all along the western coast,

from the Gambia to Loanda. These foreign traders hated the missionary

and did all they could to keep him out, well knowing that the two could

not dwell together. They said to the kings where I labored, respecting my

predecessor who began the mission in a nest of slave traders: ‘If you do

not drive that man from the country, _we will have to leave_,’

“They prejudiced the natives against the missionary, by lies and

misrepresentation; they demoralized them by the rum, guns and powder,

which they paid for slaves. They induced and encouraged internal wars for

the purpose of securing prisoners to be sold as slaves.

“By these means, large districts of the country were devastated (as

I have seen), a disregard of human rights and life fostered, and a

prevailing desire for rum and self-indulgence generally created.

“Thus, when the missionaries came they did not appreciate them, or their

work. They only cared for what slave-traders brought them.

“And as they held the _coasts_, the missionaries could not reach the

interior. They must _begin_ on the low, sickly coasts, amid such

unfavorable surroundings, or do nothing. My predecessor desired and

planned to locate in the interior, but the way was thus blockaded. And so

all along the coast.

“But now that obstacle is removed; the country is open, and missionaries

can go where they chose a field, and find a people ready to receive them.

“(2) The _ignorance_ of the people was a bar to progress. They did not

understand the objects of the missionary, nor the difference between

missionaries and traders. So, when missionaries went to Ujiji, the people

began to bring them slaves to sell, knowing of no other motive they could

have in coming to their country.

“And, in other places, they have welcomed a mission because it brought

trade to their country. And, looking upon missionaries as traders, they

once had to pay rent for the privilege of living in the country as

traders. Thus my predecessor had to agree to pay $100 a year (in gold)

that he might have a place to preach and teach their children. And he had

to feed, clothe and provide everything for the children. And this I did

for six years after him. We were willing to do this till they learned the

value of education and the Gospel, and that we might prepare _native_

teachers. And, besides, we had to make many presents, because we had

their children!

“So it was forty years ago; but not now. They have learned that the

missionaries bring only _blessings_ to their country, and they are

anxious to have their children ‘learn books,’ and be ‘taught white

man’s way.’ They also wish to learn about God and how to be saved. And

to obtain these blessings they are willing to give something——willing

to give land for missionaries to build school-houses, and help the

missionary build his house, and pay tuition for the children, and help

the preacher.

“In very many places they are _begging for a missionary_. At a point on

the Niger, where the steamers landed, the people ran to the wharf to

meet every boat, saying, ‘Has the teacher come?’ (No one had promised a

teacher.) ‘If the teacher will come, and teach us white man’s book, we

will give him plenty to eat and take good care of him!’

“Another king said: ‘I do not wish to die till I can see a school house

built, where my children can be taught; and a church, where my people may

learn about God.’

“Another king came from the country to Liberia to obtain a missionary for

his people.

“I have had chiefs come from the interior to beg for a mission, and after

giving them one, I have seen them become followers of Jesus.

“Thus from many places they cry: ‘Come over and help us!’ Very different

from fifty years ago!

“(3) The lack of _written languages and books_ was a great obstacle.

While the nations had regular languages (nearly 700 in Africa), they were

all unwritten, and, of course, they had no books and no knowledge of the

world or the way of salvation through Christ. This universal ignorance

was the mother of gross superstition and horrible cruelties.

“To learn the language and prepare school books, and translate the Bible,

was a slow process.

“To-day, over fifty of these languages are reduced to writing. The Bible

is printed in ten of them, and portions of it in over thirty more. And

many of them have school books, papers, and some literature.

“Here is a great advance, the benefit of which modern laborers can take

advantage.

“And this same work is widely and continually going on. Light is

spreading and desire increasing.