{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_69906/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_69906","id":"gutenberg_69906","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69906","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Travel Writing","London Missionary Society -- History","Missions -- Madagascar","Missions -- South Africa","Missions -- Zambia"],"text":"THROUGH LANDS THAT WERE DARK\n\n [Illustration: KHAMA, THE CHRISTIAN CHIEF OF THE BAMANGWATO TRIBE.]\n\n\n\n\n THROUGH LANDS\n THAT WERE DARK\n\n Being a Record of a Year\u2019s Missionary Journey\n in Africa and Madagascar\n\n\n BY\n F. H. HAWKINS, LL.B.,\n\n Foreign Secretary of the London Missionary Society for Africa, China\n and Madagascar.\n\n\n \u201c_To the Darkness and the Sorrow of the Night\n Came the Wonder and the Glory of the Light_\u201d\n\n\n LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY\n 16, New Bridge Street, London, E.C.\n 1914\n\n\n\n\n Dedication\n\n\nThis little Book is dedicated (without permission) to the Friend whose\ngenerosity made it possible for the journey herein recorded to be taken\nfree of any expense to the London Missionary Society.\n\n\n\n\n Table of Contents\n\n\n PAGE\n\n FOREWORD 9\n\n A. SOUTH AFRICA:\n\n I. Darkness and Light 13\n\n II. The Light Spreading Northward 27\n\n III. Tiger Kloof--\u201cA Lamp Shining in a Dark Place\u201d 62\n\n\n B. CENTRAL AFRICA:\n\n IV. The Heart of the Dark Continent 66\n\n V. The Brightness of His Rising 79\n\n\n C. MADAGASCAR:\n\n VI. Tananarive--\u201cA City set on a Hill\u201d 106\n\n VII. Imerina Country Districts--\u201cFields White Unto Harvest\u201d 126\n\n VIII. Betsileo--\u201cThe Sombre Fringes of the Night\u201d 139\n\n IX. Glad and Golden Days 149\n\n\n\n\n List of Illustrations\n\n\n PAGE\n\n Chief Khama _Frontispiece_\n\n 1. Map of South Africa 15\n\n 2. Kuruman Mission House _facing_ 34\n\n 3. The New Kuruman Waggon \u201d 34\n\n 4. Tiger Kloof \u201d 64\n\n 5. Map of Central Africa 67\n\n 6. Missionaries\u2019 Children _facing_ 70\n\n 7. Native with Fish Trap \u201d 82\n\n 8. Kafukula Mission House \u201d 95\n\n 9. Map of Madagascar 109\n\n 10. Malagasy Girls at Girls\u2019 Home _facing_ 121\n\n 11. Dr. and Mrs. Sibree \u201d 152\n\n\n\n\n I hear a clear voice calling, calling,\n Calling out of the night,\n O, you who live in the Light of Life,\n Bring us the Light!\n\n We are bound in the chains of darkness,\n Our eyes received no sight,\n O, you who have never been bound or blind,\n Bring us the Light!\n\n We live amid turmoil and horror,\n Where might is the only right,\n O, you to whom life is liberty,\n Bring us the Light!\n\n We stand in the ashes of ruins,\n We are ready to fight the fight,\n O, you whose feet are firm on the Rock,\n Bring us the Light!\n\n You cannot--you shall not forget us,\n Out here in the darkest night,\n We are drowning men, we are dying men,\n Bring, O, bring us the Light!\n\n JOHN OXENHAM.\n\n\n\n\n FOREWORD\n\n\nThis short record of a year\u2019s missionary journey in Africa and\nMadagascar is written at the request of the Directors of the London\nMissionary Society, and is based upon a series of Journal Letters\nwritten to my family and friends while I have been on my travels. This\nfact must be my excuse for writing in the first person. This little\nbook has been prepared in the midst of the pressure of Secretarial work.\n\nMy visit to South Africa was a Secretarial visit. In Central Africa\nand Madagascar I formed one of a Deputation from the London Missionary\nSociety. My colleague in Central Africa was the Rev. W. S. Houghton of\nBirmingham, and in Madagascar the other members of the Deputation were\nMr. Houghton and Mr. Talbot E. B. Wilson of Sheffield.\n\nIt is not my purpose to attempt to give any description of the three\nMission Fields which it has been my privilege to visit during the\njourney. Details with regard to the countries and the peoples will be\nfound in three Handbooks published by the Society.[1]\n\nNor does the discussion of questions of missionary policy or any\naccount of the details of the work in the various fields fall within\nthe scope of this book. These matters have been dealt with in Reports\nprepared for the Directors of the Society. Further information with\nregard to all the fields can be obtained in the Society\u2019s Annual\nReport. Some account of Madagascar and the missionary work there\nwill be also found in a book just published, entitled \u201cMadagascar\nfor Christ,\u201d being the Joint Report of the Simultaneous Deputations\nfrom the London Missionary Society, The Friends\u2019 Foreign Mission\nAssociation, and the Paris Missionary Society, which have recently\nreturned from Madagascar.[2]\n\nThe journey has been one of great fascination. From the point of view\nof the traveller it has been full of interest. From the point of view\nof a Secretary of a Missionary Society carrying on work in the lands\nvisited, the outstanding impression has been that of the growing\nChristian Church. In Central Africa that Church is in its infancy,\nbut it is an infancy full of promise. In South Africa and Madagascar\nthe Native Church is nearly a century old. Its foundations have been\nwell and truly laid, and it exhibits all the signs of healthy life and\ngrowth. As one travelled from station to station and came into contact\nwith the Native Church in all stages of development and met the Native\nleaders of that Church, one looked into the future and saw a vision\nof a Church which would one day become not only self-supporting and\nself-governing, but so possessed with the missionary spirit that it\nwould be an instrument in God\u2019s hands for evangelising the peoples\namongst whom it is now set as a lamp in the night. One hundred years\nago and less these lands were in gross darkness; to-day the curtains\nof the night are being lifted and long closed doors are wide open to\nthe light. The darkness has turned to dawning and the growing Church is\nbecoming \u201ca burning and a shining light\u201d in the lands which aforetime\nsat \u201cin darkness and in the shadow of death.\u201d\n\n F. H. H.\n\n _31st January, 1914._\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] \u201cSouth Africa\u201d: Rev. W. A. Elliott (price 6d., post free 8d.);\n\u201cCentral Africa\u201d: Mrs. John May, B.A. (price 6d., post free 7\u00b9\u2044\u2082d.);\n\u201cMadagascar\u201d: Rev. James Sibree, D.D., F.R.G.S. (price 6d., post free\n8d.). I am much indebted to the \u201cTen Years\u2019 Review\u201d of the Madagascar\nMission, edited by Dr. Sibree (L.M.S., price 2s. 6d. net), for much\ninformation embodied in the Madagascar section of the book.\n\n[2] Copies can be obtained at the L.M.S., 6d. net, post free 8d.\n\n\n\n\n Through Lands That Were Dark\n\n\n\n\n A.--SOUTH AFRICA\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I\n\n Darkness and Light\n\n A land of lights and shadows intervolved,\n A land of blazing sun and blackest night.\n\n JOHN OXENHAM.\n\n\nSouth Africa exercises a great charm over those who visit it. It is a\nland of sunshine. An unkind critic has described it as \u201ca land of trees\nwithout shade, rivers without water, flowers without scent, and birds\nwithout song.\u201d It is a land of vast distances and sparse population.\nThe portion of the African Continent which is popularly referred to as\n\u201cSouth Africa\u201d is that part which lies south of the Zambesi. This great\nexpanse of country is as large as Europe without Russia, Scandinavia\nand the British Isles, but its entire population is less than that of\ngreater London.\n\nI left England in the late autumn and arrived at Cape Town seventeen\ndays later in the early summer. London fog was exchanged for a land\nof lovely flowers and luscious fruits. Cape Town has been so often\ndescribed that I will not dwell upon its beauties or attempt to draw a\npicture of Table Mountain, The Devil\u2019s Peak, The Lion\u2019s Head, or The\nTwelve Apostles.\n\nMy first impression--and it is a lasting one--was of the abounding\nkindness and hospitality of the Colonials wherever I went. On the\nday of my arrival I was entertained by the Executive Committee of\nthe Congregational Union of South Africa. On the following day I\nwas the guest of the Archbishop of Cape Town at his lovely home at\nBishopscourt, where I met fourteen South African Bishops in full\ncanonicals gathered together for their Annual Synod. Bishopscourt is\na beautiful old Dutch House with a far-famed garden which surpassed\nin luxuriance of colour anything I had ever seen except in Japan.\nAll through South and Central Africa I was often the guest of\nGovernment officials and European residents, and everywhere received,\nas the representative of the Society, a warm welcome and the utmost\nhospitality and kindness.\n\n[Illustration: MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA, SHOWING L.M.S. MISSION STATIONS.]\n\nMy next impression was of the great contribution which the London\nMissionary Society has made to the public life and development of Cape\nColony and South Africa generally, quite apart from the direct work\nwhich its missionaries have been able to accomplish. Evidences of the\nvalue of this contribution abounded everywhere I went. In Cape Town\nI had the pleasure of meeting the Hon. W. P. Schreiner, who was the\nPrime Minister of Cape Colony at the outbreak of the Boer War. Mr.\nSchreiner is now a member of the Senate, specially chosen to represent\nthe interests of the Native population. He is recognised as the\nleading lawyer in South Africa. I also met his brother, Mr. Theophilus\nSchreiner, who is also a member of the Legislature and is well-known\nas a leading Temperance advocate. Their sister, Olive Schreiner, the\nauthoress of \u201cThe Story of an African Farm,\u201d is known wherever English\nliterature is read. This distinguished family are the children of an L.\nM. S. Missionary.\n\nIt is not often that three brothers receive the honour of knighthood\nfor public services. Sir William Solomon, Sir Saul Solomon and the\nlate Sir Richard Solomon (who was Agent-General for the Commonwealth\nof South Africa, and who died a few weeks ago) are sons of an L. M.\nS. Missionary. In its Review of the year 1913, the _Times_ speaks of\nSir Richard Solomon as \u201cthe most distinguished South African of his\ngeneration, a man who was loved by his intimates and respected by all\nfor his ability and efficiency,\u201d and of Sir William Solomon as \u201can\neminent judge.\u201d\n\nDr. Mackenzie, the leading physician in Kimberley; his brother, Dr. W.\nDouglas Mackenzie, the Principal of the Hartford Theological Seminary,\nU.S.A.; and another brother, at present Solicitor-General for Southern\nRhodesia, are three sons of John Mackenzie, the missionary-statesman of\nSouth Africa and Lord Rosebery\u2019s friend, who had so much to do with the\nmaking of history in South Africa thirty years ago. I need only mention\nother families whose names are household words in South Africa, and\nwhose representatives are to be found in many places--the Philips, the\nMoffats, the Kaysers, the Andersons, the Helms, the Rose-Innes, to show\nhow large a part the L. M. S. has indirectly played in building up the\nCommonwealth of South Africa.\n\nThroughout Cape Colony I found numerous Congregational Churches of\ncoloured people at places which were formerly Mission Stations of\nthe Society. Amongst others, Pacaltsdorp, Kruisfontein, Hankey,\nPort Elizabeth, King Williams Town, and Fort Beaufort were visited.\nThe Society many years ago withdrew its missionaries and left these\nChurches to develop along their own lines into self-governing\ncommunities, supporting their own pastorate and carrying on their\nown work. Wherever one went, one found evidences of the great part\nwhich the Society had played in days gone by in planting churches\nwhich are now independent, thus contributing both to the civilisation\nand evangelization of the peoples of the land. Passing reference may\nbe made to one of these Churches which I visited. In the Brownlee\nlocation at King Williams Town I found at work the Rev. John Harper,\nwho nearly thirty years ago exchanged his position as a missionary\nof the Society for that of pastor of the Congregational Church. For\nforty-five years he has laboured there as the minister of the Kaffir\nChurch in the Native Location and in charge of nineteen out-stations.\nThis veteran not only ministers to the spiritual needs of a very large\ncongregation, but acts both as doctor and lawyer to all the natives.\nIn 1912 he treated 4,000 patients and acted as guide, philosopher and\nfriend to the members of his congregations, advising them in all their\ndifficulties, drawing up their wills for them and ever looking after\ntheir temporal and spiritual interests. Many of these coloured Churches\nare now served by ministers of their own race, who have been trained\nfor the pastorate.\n\nFrom Cape Town I proceeded to Great Brak River and paid a short visit\nto Mr. Thomas Searle, who for some years has been the Society\u2019s Agent\nfor its properties at Hankey and Kruisfontein. The history of the\nSearle family at Great Brak River during the last fifty years affords a\ngood example of the contribution to the development of the Colony which\nChristian families have been able to make.\n\nOn the 31st December, 1859, the late Mr. Charles Searle arrived at\nGreat Brak River with his wife and four children to take up the\nposition of toll-keeper at the Causeway carrying the main road over the\nriver. The toll-house was the only habitation in the place. Mr. Searle\nerected a house for the accommodation of travellers, and afterwards a\nshop and a store. Four more children were born. He purchased a farm of\n354 acres for \u00a391, and spent some money in constructing water-furrows.\nA church was built. The business grew and subsequently a tannery and\nboot-and-shoe factory were started. Branch stores were afterwards\nestablished at George, Oudtshoorn, Heidelberg, Riversdale and a\nwholesale depot at Mossel Bay. Mr. Searle had three sons, Charles,\nWilliam, and Thomas, who entered the business, and now direct the\nLimited Company, which has been formed to carry it on. As the place\ngrew the Searles successfully opposed all applications for a licence\nfor the sale of intoxicating drinks, and to-day there is no licence\nbetween Mossel Bay, 16 miles to the west, and George, 18\u00b3\u2044\u2084 miles to\nthe east. The present population of Great Brak River exceeds 900, all\nof whom are in the employ of, or dependent on, the Searles, except\nthe doctor, the post-master and the school-teacher. At first, all the\nemployees were coloured people. Latterly, however, white people have\nalso been employed, but they are treated exactly in the same way as the\ncoloured people and receive the same wages as coloured people doing\nsimilar work. A very large new factory is now being built. Mr. Thomas\nSearle preaches regularly in the spacious church. Dutch is the language\nspoken. There is an excellent golf course. About six years ago old Mr.\nand Mrs. Charles Searle died. They and other members of the family are\nburied in the beautiful little private cemetery in Mr. Thomas Searle\u2019s\ngarden--the first of numerous garden burial places I saw in different\nplaces in the Colony. The three sons continue to reside in Great Brak\nRiver honoured and esteemed by the whole countryside.\n\nWhile at Great Brak River I paid a visit to Pacaltsdorp, an old L.\nM. S. station founded 100 years ago, where the Rev. G. B. Anderson,\nwhose father and grandfather were L. M. S. missionaries, is pastor. A\nmassive stone Church was erected in 1824, and is a memorial to the Rev.\nCharles Pacalt, who devoted his salary to the building of the Church.\nIn addition to being pastor, Mr. Anderson is also schoolmaster,\npost-master, registrar of births, marriages and deaths and agent for\nthe Society\u2019s property known as Hansmoeskraal farm.\n\nMr. Searle kindly took me in his motor car to visit Kruisfontein and\nHankey, where the Society still owns property. The South African roads\nare not constructed for motor car traffic. They defy description and\nI shall not soon forget this journey. The gradients are very bad, the\nsurface execrable. The ruts, rocks, stones and especially the sand\nmade rapid travel in a motor car a mixed pleasure. Rivers, and more\noften dry river-beds, had to be crossed. For the most part the roads\nwere very narrow and were often over-hung with trees and prickly-pear,\nconstantly blocked by great ox-waggons with teams of fourteen to\neighteen oxen, or by goats, sheep, pigs, cows and more often than all\nby ostriches, which seemed to take a delight in trying to race the car.\nIn spite of, or perhaps partly because of, these drawbacks, however,\nthe journey was most enjoyable. Some parts were very wild and desolate,\nbut others were scenes of sylvan beauty. There were mountain passes,\nravines, funereal forests (in one of which wild elephants are still to\nbe found), fairy glens and water-falls (often with very little water on\naccount of the prolonged drought), and in turn one was reminded of the\nPass of Glencoe, the Barmouth Estuary, the Precipice Walk, Dolgelley,\nthe New Forest and the Highlands of Scotland.\n\nHankey is a name well known to all interested in the work of the L.\nM. S. in South Africa. Through the engineering skill of one of the\nmissionaries applied to the construction of a tunnel through a narrow\nmountain ridge, the waters of the Gamtoos River were made available for\nwatering the Hankey valley, and ever since the desert has \u201cblossomed\nas the rose.\u201d Above this tunnel, near the top of the mountain, is a\nremarkable natural feature known as \u201cThe Window.\u201d It is a large opening\nin the rocky ridge through which a beautiful landscape can be seen on\nboth sides.\n\nAnother feature of Hankey which impresses a stranger from Europe is the\nfrogs\u2019 chorus every evening rising from an innumerable multitude of\nthese amphibious reptiles which infest the fields and water-furrows.\nThey are known as the canaries of South Africa, and reminded one of the\nmusic so characteristic of the rice fields of Central China.\n\nAt Hankey there is a large Church of coloured people, representing an\nold mission station of the Society, and an Institution for the training\nof teachers now under the control of the South African Congregational\nUnion. Through the sale of the Society\u2019s property a considerable\npopulation of Europeans has been attracted to Hankey, and I had the\nhonour during my visit of opening the new European Church.\n\nFrom Hankey I proceeded to Port Elizabeth, where I was again hospitably\nentertained. I had an opportunity of meeting the Congregational\nministers and the leading laymen at a Reception, and learnt much of\nthe contribution of the L. M. S. to the development of this part of\nSouth Africa. The coloured Church there for so many years ministered\nto by the Rev. William Dower, formerly a missionary of the Society,\nis another instance of a strong self-supporting and self-governing\nChurch which has grown out of the missionary work of years gone by. On\nthe occasion of my visit it was crowded from floor to ceiling with a\ncongregation of coloured people, who are under the pastoral care of a\nyoung and able coloured minister.\n\nAfter leaving Port Elizabeth I had the privilege of paying a visit to\ntwo of the greatest Native Institutions in South Africa. At Healdtown,\nnear Fort Beaufort, the Wesleyans are carrying on a great work in the\ntraining of Native Teachers. There are 185 boy and 84 girl boarders.\nThe results obtained in the Government examinations are the best in the\nColony. The students come from all parts; most of them are Kaffirs. The\nmedium of instruction is English. This great work is mainly the result\nof the blessing of God upon the labours of one man, Principal R. F.\nHornabrook, who is in supreme control. The Institution is nominally in\ncharge of a Committee which, however, has not met for ten years. When\nhe commenced work there twenty-two years ago there were thirty-three\nstudents. Mr. Hornabrook is his own architect and builder. He is also\na farmer and a doctor. The fees charged are \u00a312 a year, and there is a\nlarge Government grant. Some small help is given by the Wesleyans in\nSouth Africa. Not a penny comes from England. The buildings are quite\nunambitious in character, and for the most part have been erected\nfrom the profits made from carrying on the Institution. The whole\nenterprise is a triumph of organisation. There are four white men\nteachers, three white lady teachers, two matrons and several coloured\nteachers. The course is three years, and the students must have passed\nthe sixth standard before they enter. All have a little manual labour\nto do, but there is no industrial department except so far as it is\nnecessary to teach woodwork. All sorts of difficulties have had to be\nsurmounted, the chief physical one being the water-supply, which is\nnow satisfactorily provided by a windmill. The whole Institution is a\nmonument of what can be done by one man with comparatively small funds.\nMr. Hornabrook is doing great things for South Africa.\n\nFrom Healdtown I journeyed to Lovedale, the centre of the world-famed\nlabours of Dr. James Stewart, who will always be known as \u201cStewart\nof Lovedale.\u201d This is an Institution carried on by the Free Church\nof Scotland. There are 550 boarders from all parts of South Africa,\nand of these 155 are girls. There is also a \u201cpractising school\u201d\nwith 210 children. The fees range from \u00a312 to \u00a316 a year. Since the\nInstitution was commenced considerably over \u00a3100,000 has been received\nin fees. Preachers and teachers for the South African Churches and\nschools are trained here. The industrial work is widely known. The\nNatives are taught carpentry, waggon-making, smith\u2019s work, printing,\nbook-binding, boot and shoe making, office work, needle and laundry\nwork, horticulture and many other industrial pursuits.\n\nThe present Principal is the Rev. James Henderson, formerly of the\nNyasaland Mission. The Warden of the Boys\u2019 department is Dr. Moore\nAnderson, a son of Sir Robert Anderson, at one time Chief of the\nMetropolitan Police Force. On the staff there is the famous South\nAfrican astronomer, Dr. Roberts. It was good to find the daughter of\none of our present South African missionaries occupying a responsible\nposition in the Girls\u2019 department. Words fail me to describe the great\nwork which is being done. The Institution is an enduring memorial to\nthe ability and devotion of Dr. Stewart. Over the grave of this great\nand good man, which I visited, is the simple inscription, \u201cJames\nStewart, Missionary.\u201d On the hill-top is a huge stone monument erected\nto his memory.\n\nOn leaving Lovedale I journeyed _via_ King Williams Town, Blaney\nJunction, and De Aar to Kimberley. The railway meanders in and out\namongst the hills through picturesque scenery. Great rocks are much\nin evidence. On the latter part of the journey I passed numerous\nblock-houses and stretches of galvanised wire fencing reminiscent\nof the Boer war. Here as elsewhere the country has an unfinished\nlook about it. Most of the buildings are of galvanised iron. Long\ndistances were traversed without any signs of human habitation, and\nwhere such signs appeared they were not always pleasing. The wretched\nhuts of \u201cred-blanket kaffirs,\u201d and the abject poverty in which they\nlive, showed that there is still much to be done to raise the native\ninhabitants out of their degradation and to teach them to live decent\nlives.\n\nIn order to see at first-hand the conditions under which so many of\nthe Bechuanaland Natives live in the Compounds of the great De Beers\u2019\nDiamond Mines, I visited Kimberley. Dr. Mackenzie kindly took me over\nthe diamond mine workings and one of the Compounds. From these mines\nthe bulk of the world\u2019s supply of diamonds comes. I was very pleased\nwith what I saw in the Compound I visited, where 4,762 natives were\nquartered. The annual death rate is only eight per thousand, about\nhalf that of London. Every provision is made for the comfort, health\nand well-being of the native workers. There is an admirable hospital\nand a well-organised store, where the necessaries of life are to be\nobtained at cost price. The fact that the natives are well cared for is\nevidenced by the popularity of the work in the Kimberley mines all over\nSouth Africa. Natives who have worked there return again and again for\na further period. There can be no doubt that the restraint upon their\nliberty, to which they voluntarily submit while at work in the mines,\nis greatly to their advantage, and the facilities which exist for the\nremitting of wages to their families obviate, to a great extent, the\nrisks they would run if they left the Compound with large sums of money\nin their possession. Nor are their spiritual needs neglected.\n\nWhile at Kimberley I paid a visit to Barkly West, formerly a mission\nstation of the Society for many years, associated with the name of\nWilliam Ashton. From Kimberley I proceeded to Tiger Kloof. I shall\nrefer to the great work which is being carried on there later in this\nnarrative.\n\nAs one travelled through the Cape Province and visited many places,\nwhich were at one time stations of the Society in the charge of\nmissionaries and entirely supported by funds from home, but are now\nindependent Churches carrying on their own work, one realised the\npower of the growing Church in the lands which 100 years ago were\nin darkness. This province is still \u201cA land of lights and shadows\nintervolved, a land of blazing sun and blackest night,\u201d and some of\nits portals are still \u201cbarred against the light.\u201d That light has for a\ncentury and more been beating up against \u201cclose-barred doors,\u201d but the\nmissionary traveller looking down \u201cthe future\u2019s broadening way\u201d sees\nmany a sign that the time will surely come--\n\n \u201cWhen, like a swelling tide,\n The Word shall leap the barriers, and The Light\n Shall sweep the land; and Faith and Love and Hope\n Shall win for Christ this stronghold of the night.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II\n\n The Light Spreading Northward\n\n Kingdoms wide that sit in darkness,\n Grant them, Lord, Thy glorious light;\n And from eastern coast to western,\n May the morning chase the night.\n\n WILLIAM WILLIAMS.\n\n\nUp to this stage the narrative of travel has taken us through districts\nin which the London Missionary Society has laboured in days gone by.\nWe shall now visit the stations where it is carrying on work at the\npresent day.\n\nUntil quite recently the South Africa Mission of the L. M. S. might\nbe described, from the point of view of means of locomotion, as \u201can\nOx-waggon Mission.\u201d The days of the Ox-waggon are rapidly passing.\nThis slow cumbersome means of conveyance, which was formerly almost\nuniversal throughout South Africa, is giving place to the Cape cart and\nthe Railway. The change is symptomatic of the progress in the methods\nof work. Greater facilities of communication have revolutionized the\nconditions under which Missionary work is carried on. Missionaries are\nno longer isolated from their fellows as they were in the days of old.\nUntil recently they were obliged to spend a considerable portion of\ntheir time in actual travel in the ox-waggon. Now they can get about\nrapidly and are able to cover much more ground and visit many more\nout-stations in a given period of time. I was enabled to visit the\nSociety\u2019s stations in Bechuanaland and Matebeleland in one-fifth of the\ntime which would have been necessary for such a visitation thirty years\nago.\n\nAfter a few days\u2019 stay at Tiger Kloof, the first place I visited was\nVryburg, where the Rev. A. J. Wookey, the missionary in charge of the\nnumerous scattered Churches of the Baralong tribe, resides. Vryburg\nis not in a true sense a station of the Society, but the headquarters\nfor an extensive out-station work. After a stay of two days there,\nI journeyed with Mr. Wookey in a Cape cart drawn by four horses to\nGanyesa, forty miles to the north-west. The growth of the work in\nthe lifetime of a single missionary is well illustrated by what has\nhappened at this place. When Mr. Wookey first visited it, forty-three\nyears ago, two or three people met with him for worship in a hut there.\nA man read the Scriptures, and a woman led in prayer and preached.\nNow there is a good stone Church with 120 Church members, and an\nAnglo-vernacular school with seventy children. Connected with it are\nthree branch churches and schools.\n\nA short description of the visit to Ganyesa will serve to illustrate\none\u2019s experience at many a country out-station in Bechuanaland and\nMatebeleland. I started from Vryburg at 7.10 and reached Ganyesa at\n4.30, after out-spanning twice. We camped for the night on an open\ncommon, in the middle of a large Native Reserve, close to an ox-waggon\nwhich had brought two other missionaries, Mr. Helm and Mr. Haydon\nLewis, to the place. On all sides stretched the illimitable veldt.\nThere were very few trees, but almost all around the sky-line was\nbroken by the conical thatched roofs of the Native huts. Close at\nhand were to be seen emaciated oxen returning from the almost dry\nwatering-places in charge of little black herd-boys, who were nearly\nnaked, their bodies glistening like polished ebony, and having an\nappearance which suggested that they had recently been black-leaded,\nand presenting a great contrast with the white of their eyes and of\ntheir perfect teeth. After my arrival I was visited by the schoolmaster\nand the deacons, and afterwards attended a concert in the Church,\norganised to raise funds to help to send a teacher to Tiger Kloof.\nThe price of a ticket for the concert was 6d. The night was hot, and\nthe Church was packed. In spite of the almost overpowering heat the\ndoors and windows were kept closed, in order that the crowd outside\nshould not enjoy the music for which they had not paid! The atmosphere\nwithin was beyond description. Evening meetings are almost unknown\nin Bechuanaland. Some antique lamps had been requisitioned, and the\nair was laden with the pungent smell of the lamp oil. The \u201cBouquet\nd\u2019Afrique\u201d was also strongly in evidence. The audience afforded a\npicturesque scene in the dim lamp light. Most of the women wore highly\ncoloured head-dresses, and with their numerous babies sat on the floor,\nwhich was made of a mixture of sand and cow-dung. The rest of their\ndress was remarkable for its colour and variety. Many of the boys and\nmen were in dilapidated European costume. There were 100 items on the\nprogramme, and the concert continued until the small hours of Sunday\nmorning. I left before midnight, and slept on the ground underneath the\nbright penetrating stars. The darkness of the night was illuminated by\nflashes of summer lightning on the eastern horizon.\n\nThe following day, Sunday, will live in my memory. The service was\nannounced to begin at eleven o\u2019clock, but at ten o\u2019clock the evangelist\ncame to say that the chapel was already full, and forthwith the service\ncommenced. The building was crowded to its utmost capacity, and there\nwere large numbers of men, women and children sitting in the shade on\nthe ground outside. I spoke to the people from a side-door in order\nthat my words might be heard by the crowd inside and out. After the\nservice I was visited by a large number of deacons and workers from\nthe Churches for many miles round. Afterwards I went to see an old\nwoman named Dipepeng in her kraal near by. She is over eighty years\nof age, and for a long time has not had the use of her legs. She sat\nin the entrance to her hut in the shadow of the over-hanging eaves,\nreading her Sechuana Bible. She told me she had been a servant to Dr.\nand Mrs. Moffat at Kuruman, and remembered David Livingstone courting\nMary Moffat under the historic almond tree, and was present at their\nwedding. She described them, and spoke of an arbour in the garden where\nthey used to sit. The old woman has been a Christian for sixty years,\nand is deeply interested in the Church at Ganyesa.\n\nI visited the only European in the place, he being a store-keeper. In\nthe afternoon there was a baptismal service, Sunday School, a sermon,\nand a crowded Communion Service conducted with great reverence. At\nthe close the people all rose and sang, \u201cGod be with you till we meet\nagain.\u201d At day-break on the following morning there was a prayer\nmeeting. This was followed by the wedding of five couples, and a visit\nto the school. Later in the morning Mr. Wookey and I started on our\nreturn journey to Vryburg in the Cape cart.\n\nLater in the week I journeyed by rail and cart to Taungs where Mr.\nMcGee is the resident missionary. The Society has carried on work there\nfor forty-five years, and although the Church membership in connection\nwith Taungs and its out-stations is the largest (1,184) connected with\nany L. M. S. Church in South Africa, the place was described quite\nrecently by an experienced missionary as \u201ca back-water of heathenism.\u201d\nThe signs of heathenism are certainly very apparent. The Native Chief\nis a bad specimen of a Bechuana. Some of his headmen make themselves\nparticularly hideous by a plentiful application of the contents of\nthe blue-bag to their faces and heads. There are many evidences of\nsuperstition and heathenism, and yet there is another side to the\npicture. On the Sunday the spacious Church--which has recently been\nbuilt by the tribe, heathen and Christian alike contributing--was\ncrowded both morning and afternoon. Twenty infants and thirty adults\nwere baptised. The scene from the platform was extremely picturesque.\nAbout half the congregation consisted of women, most of whom wore\nbrilliantly coloured head-dresses, vivid yellows and startling pinks\npredominating. Many were clad in gaudy shawls. In the afternoon a\nsolemn Communion Service was held, at which individual communion cups\nwere used. The service was rendered the more impressive by the fact\nthat a great thunderstorm broke before it closed. Looking through the\ngreat west doors of the Church at the beginning of the service one\ncould see the wide-spreading veldt stretching away into the distance\nas far as the eye could reach, and looking dry and thirsty in the\npitiless blaze of the afternoon sun. Then a kind of mist appeared\non the horizon. It was a dust-storm approaching. The natives have a\nproverb which says that \u201cGod sweeps His land before He waters it.\u201d\nThe clouds of dust came nearer, until at last all the doors had to be\nshut. The Church became dark. Then came claps of thunder, which made\nspeaking difficult, while the dim interior was from time to time lit\nup with brilliant flashes of lightning. Then followed a downpour of\nheavy rain upon the galvanised iron roof, making a terrific noise. The\nstorm increased in intensity until there was a perfect artillery of\nthunder, while the lightning was continuous and most vivid. In spite\nof the storm the service was continued in an orderly fashion, and the\ncrowded congregation seemed perfectly oblivious to the hurricane raging\noutside. The service concluded with thanksgiving for the rain, for\nwhich the people had long been praying.\n\nTaungs is the centre of a widespread district, in which there are\ntwenty-three outstations regularly visited by the missionary. I\nvisited one of them, called Manthe, nine miles away. That visit was\nimpressed upon my memory by one of the appalling contrasts which are\nso common in heathen lands. Under an extemporised roof at the back of\nthe evangelist\u2019s house I saw and talked with a bright Christian boy,\nthe eldest son of the evangelist, by name Golekynie, who had been for\nseven years at Tiger Kloof. He was on the point of passing his third\nand final examination as a pupil-teacher, when, a month before, he had\nbeen compelled to return home in an advanced stage of consumption. He\nwas lying on his bed in the open air. He spoke excellent English and\nhad a refined face and manner, and was evidently an earnest Christian\nyouth. He realised that he could not live long, and spoke with high\nappreciation of the happiness that had come into his life at Tiger\nKloof. He told me that he was not afraid to die.\n\nAn hour afterwards I paid a visit to the Chief of the village, who was\nslowly dying of a loathsome disease in a wretched, evil-smelling native\nhouse. He lay on a dirty mattress with a coloured blanket over him. He\nwas a heathen of a low type. Two of his wives and several children were\non the verandah outside the open window. After Mr. McGee and I had left\nhe sent to us to ask us to return to pray for him, the first time he\nhad ever made a request for spiritual help.\n\nFrom Taungs I proceeded to the historic station of Kuruman,\naccomplishing the journey of 143 miles by cart, rail, motor-car and\nox-waggon. The contrast in the modes of travel is illustrated by the\nfact that the first seventy-seven miles occupied five hours, and the\nremaining sixty-six miles--which were travelled by ox-waggon--occupied\nthree nights and two days. This journey helped to bring home the\nsparseness of the population. On Christmas Eve I travelled from early\nmorning till late at night in the ox-waggon without seeing a single\nhuman habitation, or a single human being, except those who were\naccompanying me, and this not in the recesses of Central Africa but in\nBritish Bechuanaland, which is part of the Cape Province. I travelled\nin a new waggon recently made by the boys at Lovedale for the Kuruman\nstation. It was drawn by fourteen oxen, kindly provided by the Church\nat Kuruman, with two supernumeraries in reserve in case of accidents.\nAs travelling by ox-waggon is rapidly becoming a thing of the past,\nit is worth while attempting a short description of the journey. The\nwaggon in which I travelled, although a new one, had no springs.\nThe road was of a most primitive description, although the main\nthoroughfare between two important centres of population. The jolting\nand bumping defy description. The speed is nearly two miles an hour\nif all goes well. The discomfort of travelling is somewhat mitigated\nby the \u201ccartel\u201d--a wooden frame hung within the waggon by very short\nchains of three links. Across the frame are stretched \u201crims\u201d or strips\nof undressed ox-hide about a quarter of an inch broad. When the waggon\nis at rest this makes a very comfortable bed, far more so than some\nof the beds of my experience in China, such as the boards of a Chinese\nchapel vestry, or the planks of a Chinese boat.\n\n [Illustration:\n\n _Photo by_] [_Mrs. Hawkins._\n\n KURUMAN MISSION HOUSE, BUILT BY MOFFAT AND HAMILTON.]\n\n [Illustration:\n\n _Photo by_] [_Neville Jones._\n\n THE NEW KURUMAN WAGGON, WITH MR. AND MRS. J. TOM BROWN.]\n\nThe oxen are outspanned about three times a day at places where there\nis water, or where they are likely to find some grass. No reins are\nused in driving, but the oxen are controlled by a very long whip which\nis used with great dexterity either by the driver from the front of the\nwaggon or by his assistant walking alongside the oxen. These two men\nalso act as cooks. A Christmas Day spent in these conditions will live\nin the memory.\n\nThe stay at Kuruman was a delightful experience. This place is a\nveritable oasis in the desert with a perennial water supply from the\nKuruman river, which issues from a place called \u201cThe Fountain\u201d in the\nKuruman township three miles away from the Mission station. Thence in\nsummer and winter, in flood and in drought, flows 4,000,000 gallons\nof water a day. By means of water-furrows, constructed by the early\nmissionaries, the dry and thirsty land is converted into a paradise of\ngreen. The trees in the garden are a constant delight.\n\nI stayed in the Mission House built by Robert Moffat and Robert\nHamilton eighty years ago. The whole place is rich with associations.\nIt was here that David Livingstone courted Mary Moffat. The almond tree\nin the garden under which he proposed to her is still flourishing.\nClose by is the great Church, built by Moffat, and rich with many a\nmemory. Next to it is the house where William Ashton lived for many\nyears, which is now occupied by Mrs. Bevan Wookey, who is in charge\nof the excellent Mission School at Kuruman. Behind is the school\nand the old printing office. The garden is most fertile; oranges,\nlemons, quinces, mulberries, pears, apples, plums, apricots, peaches,\npomegranates, walnuts, melons and richly-laden vines, abounding. For\nmore than a quarter of a century the Rev. J. Tom Brown has carried on\nMissionary work at this station.\n\nThe great fact of the growing Christian Church in South Africa was\nabundantly emphasised on the Sunday of my stay at Kuruman. From\noutstations far and near the Christians came in for the Communion\nService on the last Sunday of the year and for the New Year\u2019s meetings.\nIn the morning some 1,500 gathered together for public worship, and\nthree services were carried on simultaneously. Moffat\u2019s long, and\nsomewhat dark Church, with its great wooden beams, was filled with a\nSechuana-speaking congregation. The dimness of the Church was relieved\nby the orange, yellow, pink and blue of the dresses of the women. In\nthe spacious school there was a crowded service for the Dutch-speaking\nnatives and coloured people. In the yard of Mrs. Wookey\u2019s house there\nwas a service, conducted by an evangelist, for the Damaras, a stalwart\ntribe of blackest hue. These people are refugees from German South-West\nAfrica. In the afternoon all the Church members gathered together in\nthe Church at a solemn Communion Service. A stranger will not soon\nforget the impressive quietness and reverence of the service as the\nbare-footed deacons moved noiselessly along the serried ranks of the\ngreat black crowd that was present.\n\nThe meetings on the following day were further evidence of the\ngrowing Church. A large gathering of Church members was held at\nwhich discussions took place on several subjects quite familiar to\nthe Home Churches, many Natives joining in with great intelligence\nand earnestness. The Native Pastor at Kuruman, the Rev. Maphakela\nLekalaka, an eloquent preacher, a capable minister, and a master of\nmetaphor--known as the \u201cJoseph Parker of Bechuanaland\u201d--superintended\nthe work of the station with ability and success during the absence of\nthe Missionary on furlough.\n\nThe journey back to Vryburg was made in an old ox-waggon drawn\nby fourteen oxen kindly lent by the Church at one of the Kuruman\noutstations. I travelled back _via_ Motito, which has pathetic\nassociations. In a tiny grave-yard there are buried two or three\nmissionary children. There is also a grave which recalls a grim\ntragedy,--that of Jean Fredoux, a son-in-law of Dr. Moffat, and a\nmissionary of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, which was\nformerly at work there. It was in 1865 that he met his death. A\n\u201cdepraved European\u201d (to quote from the inscription on the gravestone)\nattacked his wife in his absence. The Native Christians defended her\nand made him prisoner, intending to send him to Kuruman for trial. Next\nday they were afraid they might get into trouble for arresting a white\nman and they let him go. He escaped in his waggon to the place where\nMr. Fredoux was, and the Natives followed and told the latter what had\nhappened. Mr. Fredoux went to speak to the man, who retreated inside\nhis waggon. Then followed an explosion of gunpowder, which blew the\nwaggon, the \u201cdepraved European,\u201d Mr. Fredoux and all the Natives to\npieces.\n\nAt the conclusion of the journey from Kuruman I paid a short visit\nto Tiger Kloof and then proceeded north to visit the Matebeleland\nstations, in what is now known as Southern Rhodesia, taking three days\u2019\nholiday to see the wonderful Victoria Falls and places of interest in\nBulawayo and the neighbourhood. Every Britisher naturally associates\nRhodesia with the name and work of Cecil Rhodes. His statue stands in\na commanding position in Bulawayo. His grave in the rocky fastness of\nthe Matopo Hills is an impressive monument to his memory. All round are\nimmense blocks of granite piled up in fantastic shapes. Four groups of\nthese granite boulders almost completely enclose a rocky surface about\n30 yards square, in the centre of which there is a large untrimmed\nblock of granite lying on the ground. On the top of this is a sheet of\nbronze about 10 feet by 4 feet and 2 inches thick, on which are deeply\ncut these words:--\n\n \u201cHERE LIE THE\n REMAINS OF\n CECIL JOHN RHODES.\u201d\n\nThere is no date. Close by on the slope of the hill there is a white\nmarble rectangular monument, with bronze panels, commemorating Major\nWilson and thirty-four men who laid down their lives in one of the\nMatebeleland wars. The inscription reads:\n\n \u201cTO BRAVE MEN.\u201d\n\nFew people, perhaps, realise what Rhodesia owes to the lives and\nlabours of L. M. S. Missionaries. When Cecil Rhodes was a youth of\ntwenty Mr. Helm was establishing the Mission Station at Hope Fountain,\n10 miles away from the present town of Bulawayo, which was then\nnon-existent. Rhodes was always ready to acknowledge the value of\nthe services rendered by Mr. Helm in his early pioneering days in\nthe country which afterwards was named Southern Rhodesia. He was a\nconstant visitor to Hope Fountain, and Mr. Helm often took part in\nhis negotiations with Lobenguela, the blood-thirsty Matebele king.\nJohn Smith Moffat, the son of Dr. Moffat, at one time an L. M. S.\nMissionary, afterwards for many years a Government official, and\nalways the friend of the Natives, played an important part in the\nestablishment of British rule in Rhodesia. John Mackenzie, too, did a\ngreat work in this direction, and was ever a stalwart champion of the\nrights of the Natives.\n\nMr. Helm drove me from Bulawayo to Hope Fountain in a cart drawn by\nfour mules, the two leaders rejoicing in the names of \u201cBella\u201d and\n\u201cDonna.\u201d At Hope Fountain the Society holds for the benefit of the\nNatives a farm upon which some 500 people are living. In Southern\nRhodesia, outside the towns, it is very difficult, if not impossible,\nto carry on missionary work except on such farms or in Native\nReserves. Throughout the country farms are being rapidly taken up\nby white farmers, and the Natives are steadily and inevitably being\ndriven off the lands which they previously occupied into the great\nNative Reserves provided for them by the Government. Hope Fountain\nis the centre of some thirteen outstations, most of which are under\nthe charge of resident evangelists. These men and many of the Native\nChristians came into the head-station to meet me. These small Churches\nform another example of the growing Native Christian Church of South\nAfrica. The principles of self-support have been inculcated with such\nsuccess that they raise for the support of their own Christian work a\nsum considerably in excess of that raised at any other station of the\nSociety in the sub-continent.\n\nAt Hope Fountain, as in so many places in the Mission Field, one is\nreminded of the great and good men who have given their lives to the\nwork in days gone by. In the cemetery there David Carnegie is buried,\nand his white stone tomb can be seen from the Mission House across the\nvalley. His widow and family live at a house on the road between Hope\nFountain and Bulawayo.\n\nThe next week of my travel was devoted to exploring one of the great\nNative Reserves above referred to. Mr. Helm drove me from Bulawayo to\nInyati, the most northern station of the Society in South Africa, a\njourney of forty-five miles. Thence, accompanied by Mr. Cullen Reed and\nMr. R. Lanning, the Native Commissioner, I paid a visit to the Shangani\nReserve, which comprises a large tract of country situated about midway\nbetween Bulawayo and the Zambesi. This Reserve has been set apart by\nthe authorities for the accommodation of Natives who have been driven\noff the land by the gradual settlement of white farmers. The expedition\ninvolved a cart journey over rough country of some 220 miles, some of\nit through virgin tropical forest across which the road consisted of\nlittle more than a track. For seven nights I slept on the ground near\nthe great fires which were necessary to keep off lions and other beasts\nof prey. The experience was a delightful one in spite of a too abundant\ninsect life which often proved troublesome. Mr. Lanning has a unique\nknowledge of the country and his experience of travel on the veldt\nadded greatly to the comfort and the pleasure of the journey. Moreover,\nhe is a keen hunter and kept the larder well supplied with fresh meat.\nThe cart was drawn by six mules and we were accompanied by another cart\nwhich conveyed the Native servants, the luggage and the camp equipment.\nThe interest of the journey was enhanced by meetings with Native chiefs\nand headmen at different places. They may be typified in the person of\nTjakalisa, Lobenguela\u2019s third son, a fine specimen of the human race,\nstanding over six feet high and every inch of him an aristocrat.\n\nClad in a vest and a short leather apron and some wire bracelets, he\nlooked like the son of a king. Years ago he was nearly burnt to death\nin a tree in which he had taken refuge from a bush fire. David Carnegie\ntreated him and saved his life. On another occasion he was out hunting\nwith his father. His cartridges were several sizes too small for his\ngun. As fast as he put them in at the breech they fell out at the\nmuzzle. Lobenguela insisted that he was bewitched, and this opinion was\napparently confirmed when, on his shooting expedition, his horse took\nfright and threw him, breaking his leg into splinters. Mr. Helm came to\nthe rescue and effected a complete cure.\n\nNowadays Tjakalisa has settled down in the Shangani as a farmer on a\nlarge scale. He has been known to realise as much as \u00a3600 at one time\non the sale of his produce. He came to discuss with us the question\nof the settlement of a resident missionary. He was accompanied by\na fine old chief, Sivalo, who still wears one of the old Matebele\niron circlets on the top of his head. I shall not soon forget the\nlong morning spent in the blazing sun--in \u201cthe splendour, shadowless\nand broad,\u201d of a South African midsummer. Tjakalisa and Sivalo were\nattended by a score of headmen. They were eloquent in praise of their\nnew country, which had not suffered from the terrible drought which has\nbeen afflicting so much of the sub-continent. They realise the benefits\nof elementary education and promised to support a school and to build a\nhouse for a teacher. They were filled with enthusiasm for the future of\nthis promised land.\n\nLater on the same night I was lying on my bed, consisting of leaves and\ngrass and a rug, under the stars which were soon to be extinguished by\nthe brilliant light of a South African full moon. A few yards away our\nblack servants were sitting around the camp-fire. One of these was a\nBasuto who had passed some of his life in prison and was now a servant\nin the mission. Another was a black, curly-headed herd-boy from one of\nour mission stations. With them were some naked Matebele. Before I\nslept I heard the strains of a hymn in the native language, sung to a\nwell-known tune. It was:\n\n Jesus, still lead on,\n Till our rest be won;\n And, although the way be cheerless,\n We will follow, calm and fearless;\n Guide us by Thy hand\n To our Fatherland.\n\nI fell asleep to dream of the African church of the future in this new\nfatherland of their race.\n\nAlready under the steady pressure of white settlement large numbers\nof Natives have been driven into this Reserve and month after month\nthere are fresh arrivals. In the old days the L. M. S. was ever to the\nfront as the pioneer Society in the evangelization of South Africa. In\nthese days it is looking forward to establishing a new mission station\nin this Reserve, unless prevented by the great deficiency and the\nlukewarmness of the Home Churches.\n\nFrom Shangani I returned to Inyati, the station where Mr. Bowen Rees\nhas laboured so long and faithfully. He was away on furlough at the\ntime of my visit. During my stay there I was reminded of some of the\nminor inconveniences--not to say dangers--of a missionary\u2019s life. One\nevening while we were sitting on the verandah a snake paid us a visit,\nwhile the next day a cobra was caught in the woodstack close at hand.\n\nI inspected the school and attended a large gathering in the Church of\nChristians from Inyati and its outstations. Most of the adults squatted\non the floor with their families around them. The naked babies tumbled\nover each other in their playful frolics, or slept on their mothers\u2019\nbacks while I was trying to speak to their parents.\n\nFrom Inyati Mr. Helm drove me to Insiza, formerly a station of the\nSociety. On the following morning I left at 4 a.m. by train for\nBulawayo, where I proceeded to Marula Tank Siding _en route_ for the\nnew Arthington station at Tjimali, where our Missionary, Mr. Whiteside,\nmet me. A drive of twenty miles in the mule cart brought us to the\nMission House, which is beautifully situated in the midst of granite\nkopjes which form the western spur of the Matopo Hills. The view is\nmagnificent. The garden terminates in a forbidding precipice some\nhundreds of feet deep. On one side of the house is a lofty rocky hill\nwhich commands a wide stretch of mountainous country in all directions\nwith intervening valleys, and plains and hills. There are, however,\ndrawbacks to Tjimali as a residence. The baboons are very numerous in\nthe immediate neighbourhood and go about in herds of forty or fifty\nand rob the gardens in the day time. The wild cats steal the chickens\nat night. The eagles carry off the lambs, and the insect life is\nsuper-abundant. Tjimali is the Society\u2019s newest station in Matebeleland\nand the work is in its early stages. There are ten outstations, at each\nof which there is a native teacher who conducts school during the week\nand acts as pastor-evangelist on Sundays, preaching and holding classes\nfor inquirers. The work is bright with promise and is reaching the\nminers who are settling in the outskirts of the district.\n\nFrom Tjimali I journeyed by cart to Dombodema, a long day\u2019s drive\nof fifty-eight miles. My experience that day illustrates one of the\ndisadvantages of the new mode of travel in South Africa. I had been\ndriven to the Marula Siding to catch the train for Plumtree, the\nstation for Dombodema. On arrival there I found that on the previous\nday the time for the starting of the train had been put forward four\nhours without any notice whatever to the public or even the station\nmaster, and hence there was nothing for it but to drive the whole\ndistance. On the way I was met by Mr. Cullen Reed, the Dombodema\nmissionary, who has been at work there since the foundation of the\nstation in 1895. Mr. Reed has to carry on his work in three languages\nand has to itinerate a parish of 3,000 square miles inhabited by 15,000\npeople. On each side of the Mission station are low picturesque kopjes.\nThe day before I arrived Mr. Reed had killed a snake fifteen feet long\nin the garden.\n\nPreachers, teachers and Christian workers had come in from the\noutstations for the meeting. Three of them had travelled all the\nway from Nekati, a distance of 150 miles. At this place Segkome\nKhama lives. He is the eldest son of Khama, the famous Chief of the\nBamangwato tribe. For the Sunday service the Church was crowded, the\ncongregation sitting on the floor, and some scores more finding seats\nunder the shadow of a great fig tree outside the door. The Service was\nconducted in two languages. In the afternoon an impressive Communion\nService was held.\n\nOn leaving Dombodema I proceeded south to Serowe, spending two days\non the way at the British Residency, Francistown, as the guest of\nMajor Daniel, the Assistant Commissioner for the Northern half of\nthe Bechuanaland Protectorate. My visit to Serowe was one of my most\ninteresting experiences in South Africa. Leaving Phalapye Road railway\nstation at 3.20 a.m. in the faint light of the waning moon I started\non the cart ride of thirty-five miles to Serowe. The cart was drawn\nby eight fine mules kindly put at my disposal by the Government. It\nwas the dustiest ride I have ever experienced, in many places the road\nbeing several inches deep in sand and dust. The dust of the Plain of\nChihli in North China makes an impression on the memory which it is not\neasy to forget, but the drive to Serowe was a more trying experience,\nbecause eight galloping mules travel much faster than the sorry beasts\nwhich draw the Peking carts of North China. About three miles from\nSerowe we saw a cloud of dust ahead and there emerged from it a company\nof horsemen whom Khama had sent to escort me. A mile further on the\nwhole veldt seemed to be enveloped in a mighty dust-storm. When it\nreached us we stopped. Khama had come in person with some hundreds of\nhorsemen. The old Chief sprang from his saddle like a man of 26 rather\nthan a man of 76. He joined me in the cart and we renewed our drive.\nThe horsemen galloped before and behind and on either side. The drivers\nthrashed their mules with two whips to force them to keep pace with\nthe horsemen. A regular stampede ensued. Fresh detachments of Natives,\nall mounted on fine steeds, joined the cavalcade every two or three\nminutes. The Chief thoroughly enjoyed the fun and laughed heartily\nas the horses of the various members of our escort kept cannonading\nagainst one another in the mad rush.\n\nSerowe, the largest Native town in South Africa, contains about 26,000\ninhabitants, and is picturesquely situated. Mr. Jennings, the L. M. S.\nmissionary, has carried on work there for upwards of ten years. It is\na typical Bechuana town, having no streets but consisting of numerous\ncollections of native huts within fenced kraals. The position of the\nMission House is particularly striking, lying as it does between three\ngreat piles of rocks.\n\nThe town owes much of its importance to the fact that it is Khama\u2019s\ncapital. This old Chief--the Jubilee of whose baptism was celebrated\ntwo years ago--is the most distinguished Native of South Africa.\nHe is undoubtedly one of the busiest men in the world. He spends\nlaborious days in the Kgotla--the great open-air meeting place of the\ntribe--dealing with all sorts of questions affecting his people, and\nacting as judge. Nothing concerning the life of the tribe is too minute\nfor his careful attention. He knows all that happens and rules his\npeople with a firm hand, exercising a benevolent despotism.\n\nIn a very true sense Khama is head of the Church as well as head of\nthe State. He is most regular in his attendance at Sunday services and\nreligious meetings. Under his leadership his people have just built\na magnificent stone Church, on the foundation stone of which are\ninscribed these words:--\n\n \u201cTHIS CHURCH WAS ERECTED TO THE GLORY OF GOD\n BY CHIEF KHAMA AND THE BAMANGWATO TRIBE.\u201d\n\nTwo great meetings in the Kgotla will live in my memory. At day-break\non the morning after my arrival I attended a prayer meeting for rain.\nThese meetings had been held for weeks. About 800 men and women were\npresent in almost equal proportions. Most of the women sat upon the\nground and the men on low chairs or stools which they brought with\nthem. Khama sat on a deck chair under the shadow of a tree in the\nmiddle of one of the sides of the oval into which the people had\ngrouped themselves. His young wife sat on his left hand. There was\nsinging, reading and prayer. The Chief himself led the meeting in the\nfinal prayer, which lasted about five minutes. I am told he compared\nhis country to a wilderness where there was no river, and his people to\na lonely dog in the desert crying for water.\n\nAnother memorable meeting in the Kgotla was the Sunday morning service.\nBetween 4,000 and 5,000 people assembled at 7 a.m., most of the men\nsitting on the right and the women on the left. The scene was a most\npicturesque one. The coloured head-dresses of the women were brilliant\nin the morning sunshine. Khama and his wife were present. A deacon\nwith a fine voice led the singing, which was very hearty, and was\nunaccompanied by any instrument.\n\nMany other gatherings were held during my visit to Serowe. I met\ndeacons, Church members, catechumens, inquirers, Sunday School\nteachers, and other Christian workers. In several conversations\nwith the Chief I found him to be deeply interested in Christian\nwork in other parts of the world. He has the high spirits of a boy\nand told many yarns of hunting experiences. He had some interesting\nreminiscences of his meetings with David Livingstone to narrate. He\ntold me that he remembered Livingstone visiting his father, Segkome, on\nthree occasions. On the first and second of these visits Livingstone\nwas riding on a hornless ox. On the third occasion he was travelling\nin an ox-waggon and came to Shoshong. \u201cAfter that,\u201d Khama added, \u201che\nwent beyond the Zambesi, and I never saw him again.\u201d Of his own accord\nhe told me of Livingstone\u2019s encounter with the lion, and described the\ndamage to the arm and told me he remembered hearing of the incident at\nthe time.\n\nKhama has two houses, one a spacious and well-built native hut, where\nhe lives with his wife, Semane, who was trained at the L. M. S. School,\nand is a fine specimen of a Native Christian woman. She takes great\ninterest in the work and often visits the schools and is a regular\nattendant at the services in the Kgotla. Khama\u2019s other residence is a\nEuropean house, brick-built, with a verandah in front and containing\nfour rooms. I visited him there, and was received in his sitting-room,\nwhich is about 18 feet square. The floor was covered with linoleum\nupon which was a Turkey carpet. There were two tables--one a large\nold-fashioned drawing-room table, on which stood a photograph of Earl\nSelborne in a silver frame and two other photographs, and the other a\nlight folding table on which was a richly framed autograph photograph\nof Queen Victoria, which she had given to the Chief when he was in\nEngland in 1895. On this table also stood a very large blue enamel\nmilk-pail full of milk and a bottle of vinegar. In the corner was an\nAddress from the Serowe Chamber of Commerce on the occasion of the\nJubilee of his baptism. On the walls were portraits of the late King\nEdward, Queen Alexandra, King George and other Royalties. He showed\nme a gold hunter watch he was wearing, which contained an inscription\nrecording that it was presented to him by the Duke and Duchess of\nConnaught. He was very interested in political matters and was most\nanxious about the future of his people, being apprehensive that the\nProtectorate might one day be incorporated in the South Africa Union,\nand keenly desirous of preventing the occurrence of anything in the\nnature of such a catastrophe, as he deems it would be.\n\nKhama is a man of great physical strength. A week or two before I saw\nhim he had ridden sixty miles to Shoshong on horse-back in a single\nday, and after a day or two\u2019s stay had made the return journey in the\nsame way. He exercises a tremendous influence over the tribe, and in\nrecent years has put a stop to the manufacture and drinking of Native\nbeer. The story is told of him that some time ago a man who had tried\nto bewitch him died of fright, when Khama reminded him that he was the\nson of the greatest of witch doctors, Segkome, and that he could kill\nhim if he wished to do so.\n\nMy week\u2019s intercourse with Khama made two impressions on my mind. The\nfirst is that he is a Christian gentleman, and the second is that he is\none of the most cautious and astute men I have ever met in my life. He\nhas a remarkable mind, the working of which it is not always easy to\nunderstand, but of his desire to spread the light amongst the people\nover whom he rules with a rod of iron there cannot be a shadow of doubt.\n\nOf the growing Church among the Bamangwato there are many manifest\nsigns. Apart from the salaries of the missionaries and a small\ngrant to keep the Mission House in repair, the work at Serowe is\nself-supporting. Moreover, the Church is a Missionary Church, and is\nseeking to pass on the light to others. For many years it has done much\nto sustain the work for God at Lake Ngami, which is the Mission field\nof the Bamangwato Church. It sends out its own missionaries. For twenty\nyears Shomolekae has been the devoted and much loved evangelist of the\nfar-away Lake Ngami district and has bravely held the fort in spite of\nloneliness and isolation and repeated attacks of fever. He has now been\njoined by Andrew Kgasi, who was trained at Tiger Kloof, and volunteered\nfor service at the Lake.\n\nFrom Serowe I travelled to Shoshong, being driven to Phalapye Road\nStation by the Acting-Magistrate in the Government mule cart.\nProceeding south by railway to Mahalapye I was there met by Mr. Lloyd,\nthe Shoshong missionary, with his ox-waggon. We travelled all night\nand reached Shoshong at mid-day. This place in the old days was the\ncapital of the Bamangwato tribe. It was here that Segkome, Khama\u2019s\nfather, ruled and Khama himself was baptised fifty-two years ago. Here\nDavid Livingstone preached and practised in the early forties, and\nlater on John Mackenzie, Roger Price and J. D. Hepburn laboured. But\nits glory departed when in 1886 Khama moved his capital to Phalapye.\n\nShoshong is picturesquely situated in a wide plain with mountains on\nall sides, but there are few traces of its former greatness. The site\nof the old town is covered with bush. The present town consists of\nthree large kraals under three local chiefs or head-men, one of whom\nis Khamane, Khama\u2019s brother, and another Tshwene, Khama\u2019s son-in-law.\nAt the time of my visit Shoshong was experiencing the terrible effects\nof the prolonged drought. The only water supply was two miles away in\nthe river bed, over one of the roughest paths I have ever traversed.\nBetween the boulders over the stones and across the rocks the narrow\nserpentine track had been worn quite smooth by the long procession of\nwomen walking up and down day by day to fetch water from holes dug in\nthe bed of the river. One of the vivid impressions of travel in these\nparts is that of a string of women carrying very heavy clay pots of\nwater balanced on their heads, climbing over rocks and making their way\nthrough thorn bushes, and never spilling a drop of the water. These\ngreat pots are 18 inches across in the broadest part and one foot high,\nand when filled are very heavy. I tried to lift one on to my head\nbut entirely failed. The women help each other to hoist them and they\ndo this very cleverly and quickly. A man attempted to help a woman to\nreplace on her head the pot I had tried to lift. The woman said \u201cNo!\nyou are no good, you are only a man! You cannot do it.\u201d An old woman of\nsixty came to the rescue and between them they succeeded in replacing\nthe pot upon the head of its bearer.\n\nShoshong is the centre of a large district comprising thirty-nine\noutstations, some of which, however, are little more than preaching\nstations. The missionary visits them from time to time. There are only\nseven schools in the district.\n\nOn my return journey to the railway I had an experience of travel which\nwas much more common formerly, when the ox-waggon was the only means of\nconveyance, than to-day, when its place has been largely taken by carts\nand trains. We left Shoshong in the waggon at 10 p.m. The herd-boy had\nbeen unable to find two of the best oxen, and we started with a span of\ntwelve, at least two of which were very poor specimens. In the first\ntwo miles we had to stop a score of times. Finally, one of the oxen\nlaid down and refused to move. We left this creature and its fellow\nbehind, and proceeded with ten oxen only. The heavy thunderstorm of the\nprevious day had left water behind it on the road and our progress was\nslow. Between five and six on the following morning I was wakened by a\ntremendous banging and found one of the drivers standing on the front\nseat of the waggon chopping off a branch of a tree which barred our\nway. Fifty yards further on, owing to careless driving and tired oxen,\nthe wheels on one side of the waggon got lodged in a deep rut full of\nwater and mud. I got up to find the waggon at an angle of forty-five\ndegrees and in imminent danger of overturning. Dressing hurriedly and\ngetting out of the waggon I found the boys had unyoked the oxen and\nfastened them on to the back in the vain hope that they might thus pull\nit out of the rut backwards. A futile effort was then made to dig out\nthe two wheels, but it was impossible to move the waggon. The boy went\noff post-haste to Bonwapitse, two miles away, to borrow oxen and men\nfrom the Chief to extricate us. In two hours twenty men, including the\nChief\u2019s son, and ten of the most powerful oxen I have ever seen, came\nto our rescue. A chain was fastened round the back axle and in less\ntime than it takes to describe the incident the waggon was dragged\nout of the rut. The new oxen, however, were not content with their\nperformance, but rushed off, dragging the waggon backwards, and soon\ntwo considerable trees were levelled to the ground in the stampede.\nFortunately, the oxen took a semi-circular course, and the great trees\nand dense bush checked them in their mad career, but not before some\ndamage had been done and the interior of the waggon half-filled with\nbroken branches of trees.\n\nIt was Sunday morning. On reaching Bonwapitse we held a Service under\nthe trees, which was attended by the Chief and his wife and about 100\npeople. This was one of the many open-air services which will live in\nthe memory. The trees afforded little shade. The almost vertical rays\nof the South Africa summer sun beat down with merciless severity upon\nthe people gathered together as they joined in singing their hymns and\nlistened with great attention to the words spoken to them, and took\npart with great devoutness in the prayers which were offered.\n\nI proceeded by railway to Gaberones, arriving there between two and\nthree in the morning. Alighting from the train I waited in the darkness\nuntil two men appeared with a lantern to conduct me to the Government\nwaggon which Mr. Ellenberger had kindly sent. We in-spanned early\nin the morning and I was taken to the Residency three miles away,\nwhere a warm welcome awaited me. Mr. Ellenberger is the Assistant\nCommissioner for the Southern portion of the Protectorate. He is the\nson of a missionary of the Paris Missionary Society who laboured in\nBasutoland, and his wife is the daughter of the well-known Dr. Casalis\nof the same Society. I experienced from them the same kindness which\nwas always extended to me by the Government officials, and my two days\u2019\nstay at the Residency was altogether delightful. They kindly drove me\nin the Government cart to Khumakwane, where we found the waggon which\nhad conveyed my luggage on the previous day, awaiting us. Mr. Haydon\nLewis, the missionary from Molepolole, met us there with his waggon.\nAfterwards another open-air service was held under a great tree, in the\ncourse of which Mr. Ellenberger spoke to the people in Sechuana, and\na business interview followed with the neighbouring Chief, at whose\nvillage the Mission Chapel had been burnt some time before at the\ninstigation of a \u201cfalse prophet.\u201d\n\nMr. Ellenberger drove us to Kolobeng, where we saw the ruins of the\nhouse which Livingstone had built seventy years before, and which was\ndestroyed during his absence by the Boers. The outline of the house\nwas quite distinct, and on one side the walls are still standing about\n7 feet high. The bricks were of the roughest description, and the\nmarvel is that they have stood the storms of seventy years without\ndisappearing altogether. In Livingstone\u2019s day there was a large town\nhere, but now not a hut is to be seen owing to tribal migration. The\nKolobeng river itself has almost disappeared, but its course is clearly\nmarked by a great line of reeds and rushes.\n\nI met two old men who remembered Livingstone, and gave me some details\nof his personal appearance. One of them as a boy was doctored by him,\nthe other still cultivates Livingstone\u2019s garden--a small patch near\nthe ruins, where mealies are grown. Close by are the remains of an old\nDispensary, and a little further off are two nameless graves. It was\na scene of desolation, nature having completely re-asserted herself,\nand obliterated all traces of the former town. But from the site there\nwas a fine view of undulating veldt and valley and mountain, and one\nthought with gratitude of the great man who had \u201cpassed like light\nacross the darkened land\u201d--\n\n \u201cTo lift the sombre fringes of the Night\n To open lands long darkened to the Light,\n To heal grim wounds, to give the blind new sight,\n Right mightily wrought he.\u201d\n\nNext day I left for Molepolole with Mr. Haydon Lewis. This town, where\nmissionary work has been carried on since 1866, is the capital of\nthe Bakwena tribe. In the afternoon there was a great gathering of\nschool children for their annual sports. Just after I had distributed\nthe prizes a youth galloped up on a bare-backed horse, scattering\nthe children in all directions. He was the Chief\u2019s son and has the\nreputation of being a graceless young rascal, constantly under the\ninfluence of drink and a veritable vagabond in the tribe. He rejoices\nin the name of Ralph Wardlaw Thompson Sebele, having been born about\nthe time when Dr. Thompson was last in Molepolole, and receiving at\nbaptism the honoured name to which he is anything but a credit.\n\nDuring my visit I inspected the schools and met the Church members\nand congregation, and was present at a crowded lantern service in the\nChurch. In spite of great difficulties the evangelistic work is being\ncarried on with success by means of twenty-eight native preachers\ntrained on the station. This tribe has set an example to the other\nBechuanaland tribes by levying a school tax of 2/-per annum upon all\ntax-payers, thus providing ample funds for educational purposes.\nExcept for the salary of the missionaries and an annual grant for\nitineration the work at this station is self-supporting, and the Church\nis realising the duties of providing for its own work, of governing\nitself and of spreading the Gospel in the outlying parts. Its Mission\nfield is the North central part of the Khalahari Desert which adjoins\nthe territory of the tribe on the west. At Molepolole, as well as at\nother stations, the missionary is also the doctor. A considerable\nportion of each morning, when he is at home, is spent in examining\npatients and dispensing medicines. He is ably seconded by his wife, who\nwas a trained nurse. Thus the light is spread not only by the preaching\nof the Gospel and the teaching in the schools, but also by the healing\nof the sick. So our missionaries are found following in the footsteps\nof the Great Physician.\n\nFrom Molepolole I travelled south in the ox-waggon to Mahatelo on my\nway to Kanye. Early next morning I was met at Gamoshupa by a cart\nand four mules, kindly sent for me by Seapapico, the Chief of the\nBangwaketsi tribe. After a drive through beautiful scenery I reached\nKanye, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, and the capital of the tribe, in\nthe afternoon. I spent the greater part of a week at this station,\nwhere missionary work has been carried on under the superintendence\nof a resident missionary for forty years, and where Mr. and Mrs.\nHoward Williams were labouring. While this book is passing through\nthe press a cablegram has been received, conveying the sad news that\nMr. Williams has been called to the higher service, after a devoted\nmissionary life of well-nigh thirty years. The increasing activities\nof a growing Church of nearly 700 members were apparent in the town\nitself and in the numerous outstations in the district. On the Sunday\nthe spacious Church, which was provided by the tribe and cost \u00a33,000\napart from the bricks, and contains a fine organ, the gift of the late\nChief Bathoen, was packed to its utmost capacity, many having come in\nfrom the outstations. The women\u2019s head-dresses, which were of all the\ncolours of the rainbow, were in striking contrast to the black heads\nof the men. After the service thirty-four adults were baptised, and\nin the afternoon a Communion Service was held, at which 550 Church\nmembers gathered round the table of our Lord. On the following days I\nattended meetings of Church members and Christian workers and of women,\ninspected the schools, and had interviews with some of the leading men.\n\nThe present Chief, Seapapico, is a young man of twenty-six, and the son\nof Bathoen, who accompanied Khama to England in 1895. The young man was\neducated at Lovedale, and speaks English well, and was a great support\nto the missionary, Mr. Howard Williams. His mother, Bathoen\u2019s widow, is\na fine Christian woman and gives great assistance to Mrs. Williams in\nher work amongst the women of the tribe. She was the favourite daughter\nof Sechele, the old Chief of the Bakwena tribe. When she was a girl she\nhad a quarrel with a friend and destroyed her eyesight with a thorn.\nSechele had one of his daughter\u2019s eyes put out, on the principle of \u201can\neye for an eye,\u201d and she bears the mark of this parental correction to\nthis day.\n\nFrom Kanye I was driven in the Chief\u2019s cart to the railway at Lobatsi,\nwhence on the following day I was escorted by the native ordained\nminister, Roger K. Mokadi, to his station at Maanwane, over the\nTransvaal border. After a service in the Church and a visit to Roger\u2019s\nkraal, a hot tramp under a fierce sun brought us at Mabotsa to the\nruins of the old Mission house built by Livingstone and Edwards. Some\nof the walls were standing seven or eight feet high, but the interior\nwas overgrown with bush. Close by is the hill where Livingstone had\nhis famous encounter with the lion, and near at hand an old native\nChristian lives who was with Livingstone at the time. A drive through\nLinokani, where the German Lutherans are carrying on a fine piece of\nmissionary work, brought me to Zeerust and next day by means of the\ntrain I reached Johannesburg. It does not fall within the scope of\nthis book to describe this wonderful city, the creation of the last\ntwenty-five years. It is by far the largest business town in South\nAfrica and is the centre of the greatest gold producing mines in the\nworld. Here I experienced the utmost kindness from members of the\nCongregational Church and met my colleague, Mr. Houghton, with whom\nI was to travel for the next nine months. Nor must I stay to refer\nto a deeply interesting visit to Pretoria. At these great centres\nthe evidence of the appalling racial conflict, which constitutes the\ngreatest problem confronting the Christian Church in South Africa\nto-day, was abundantly apparent.\n\nA few days later I travelled to Mafeking, for ever immortalised for\nits heroic defence during the Boer war, to see Colonel Panzera, the\nResident Commissioner for the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and thence\nproceeded to Tiger Kloof to meet all the Society\u2019s South African\nmissionaries for consultation upon the work and its problems.\n\nThroughout my journeys amongst the Churches in Bechuanaland and\nMatebeleland there were many signs of the growing power and promise of\nthe Native South African Church. That Church, planted first by Moffat\nand his colleagues at Kuruman, and carried north by Livingstone and\nhis successors until it has well-nigh reached the Zambesi, has had a\nchequered career, but its progress has been unmistakably onward and\nupward. It has been tried and purified by the struggles of the past,\nand to-day its \u201cfar-flung battle line\u201d is making a steady advance\nagainst the forces of superstition and heathenism with which it is\nconfronted.\n\n\u201cClimbing through darkness up to God,\u201d the members of that Church\nare bravely carrying \u201cthe wonder and the glory of the light\u201d into\n\u201cthe darkness and the sorrow of the night\u201d in which so many of their\nfellow-countrymen are still enshrouded. Through the open doors \u201cthe\ntrue Light, which lighteth every man coming into the world,\u201d is pouring\nits ever-brightening rays.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n Tiger Kloof--\u201cA Lamp Shining in a Dark Place\u201d\n\n From North, and South, and East, and West\n They come.\n\n JOHN OXENHAM.\n\n\nThe crown of the work of the L. M. S. in South Africa is the Tiger\nKloof Native Institution. Ten years ago the site on which its buildings\nnow stand was bare veldt. To-day it is a centre of light for all the\nL. M. S. work in South Africa. Situated on the Cape-to-Cairo Railway,\n767 miles north of Cape Town, the Institution buildings, which\nchallenge the attention of every passing traveller, are a monument to\nthe princely munificence of that great missionary-hearted man Robert\nArthington of Leeds, to the energy, ability, devotion and far-seeing\nstatesmanship of the Rev. W. C. Willoughby, and to what can be\naccomplished by the South African boys trained in the Institution, who\nhave erected most of the buildings which are now so notable a feature\nof the landscape.[3]\n\nIt is to Tiger Kloof that the brightest and best boys, who have\nreceived their early training at the Mission stations of the Society in\nSouth Africa, are sent to complete their education. It is from Tiger\nKloof that the teachers and preachers, who are to be God\u2019s instruments\nin building up the growing Native Church, proceed after receiving\ntraining to fit them for their work. Tiger Kloof is the strategic\ncentre of the Society\u2019s work in South Africa. In the coming days it\nwill also be the training place for teachers and preachers connected\nwith the Central Africa Mission.\n\nWithin the limits of this sketch it is impossible to describe the\nmanifold activities of this great Institution. I visited it on three\noccasions, and altogether spent upwards of a month there, and I had\nmany opportunities of seeing and learning to appreciate the great work\nwhich is carried on. At the present time there are nearly 200 students\nin residence.\n\nOn the 8th March, 1904, Mr. Willoughby and his wife outspanned their\nwaggon, and that a borrowed one, on the veldt at the corner of a large\nfarm which the Society had previously bought. The word \u201cfarm\u201d conveys\na false impression. It was an unfenced wilderness covered with stone\nand low bush. The foundation stone of the Institution was laid in\n1905 by Earl Selborne, the Governor of Cape Colony. Year after year\nbuildings have been added, and the Institution now comprises a fine\ndining-hall with a clock tower, six dormitories, commodious school and\nclass rooms, carpenters\u2019 and tailors\u2019 shops and work-rooms, offices and\nresidences for the members of the staff, and a series of cottages for\nthe theological students and their families.\n\nIn the scholastic department the boys are taught the subjects\nprescribed by the Cape code. There is an excellent normal school for\nthe training of teachers. Apprentices are taught masonry, carpentry,\ntailoring and office work, and there is a theological department where\nthe students are trained for the ministry.\n\nOn arrival at Tiger Kloof the visitor to whom the Institution wishes\nto show honour is met by the boys in full-dress Sunday uniform and the\nBand. As such visitors are not infrequent the sight of the boys at the\nSiding, smartly attired in their blue uniforms, and the strains of the\nBand help to make known the Institution to the numerous travellers\npassing through by train.\n\nDaily Prayers are held in the Hall at 6.45 a.m. precisely. The English\nlanguage is employed and the Mill Hill School Service book is used.\nThese gatherings for morning prayers are characterised by a quiet\ndignity and reverence which is very impressive. The singing is good\nand the musical responses are very effectively rendered. The singing\nof \u201cCrown Him Lord of all,\u201d to the tune \u201cDiadem,\u201d will not soon be\nforgotten by those who have listened to it. After prayers the boys\nmarch out of the Hall and form themselves into companies outside and\nproceed to the parade ground for drill. The discipline is perfect. The\nwork of the Institution has constantly received high praise from the\nGovernment Inspectors, and large Government grants are earned.\n\n [Illustration:\n\n _Photo by_] [_W. C. Willoughby._\n\n PORTION OF TIGER KLOOF INSTITUTION.\n\n Right to left: DORMITORY, DINING HALL, PRINCIPAL\u2019S HOUSE BEYOND.]\n\nThe influence of the work there is already being felt throughout the\nSouth Africa Mission. Not only are ordained pastors and certificated\nteachers, who have received their training at Tiger Kloof, to be found\nat the various stations, but masons and carpenters who have learnt\ntheir trades there, after returning to their homes, occupy themselves\nwith erecting Churches, schools and houses, and in many cases their\nlife and example is a blessing to the people amongst whom they live.\nIn this and other ways Tiger Kloof is making its contribution to the\nbuilding up of a strong Christian Church in South Africa, and sending\nout Christian youths to spread the light in many a dark place.\n\nAn Institution on similar lines for girls is in course of erection at\nTiger Kloof. When it gets to work the most promising girls from the\ndifferent Mission stations will be sent there for higher training. Many\nof them will become the wives of the preachers and teachers, and thus\nit is hoped will help to build up Christian homes in South Africa,\nwhich will be centres of light in different parts of the field.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[3] The genesis and development of the great work at Tiger Kloof is\nadmirably described in the Handbook by Mr. Willoughby, entitled \u201cTiger\nKloof,\u201d published by the L.M.S. Price, 1s. net; post free 1s. 2d.\n\n\n\n\n B.--CENTRAL AFRICA\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n The Heart of the Dark Continent\n\n Watchman, what of the night?\n The Watchman said, The morning cometh.\n\n ISAIAH.\n\n The night is far spent and the day is at hand.\n\n ST. PAUL.\n\n\nAfter four and a-half months spent in South Africa, where the Native\nChurch has been planted for a century, I proceeded north to Central\nAfrica, where missionary work is in its early stages and the Native\nChurch in its infancy. Leaving Tiger Kloof towards the end of March,\nI travelled by the Cape-to-Cairo Railway through the Protectorate and\nSouthern Rhodesia, and was joined by the other member of the Central\nAfrican Deputation, Mr. Houghton, at the Victoria Falls. The Railway\ntook us to Ndola, 1,373 miles north of Tiger Kloof. There we were met\nby Mr. Nutter, of Mbereshi, in our Central Africa Mission, and over 100\nnative carriers who were to be our companions for many a day to come.\nBefore attempting any description of travel in Central Africa it will\nbe well to say something about the country itself.\n\n[Illustration: MAP OF CENTRAL AFRICA, SHOWING L. M. S. MISSION STATIONS.\n\n (Kambole should be west, and not south of Kafukula).]\n\nAs late as the middle of last century maps of Africa described the\ncentral regions of the Dark Continent as unexplored. The labours\nof Livingstone, his contemporaries and successors have revealed to\nthe peoples of the West a vast area as extensive as Europe which is\nsomewhat vaguely described as Central Africa. Towards the end of\nthe century this great expanse of country had been parcelled out\namongst the great Powers of Europe. Internal peace has taken the\nplace of tribal warfare, and the land has been thrown open to Western\ncolonization. Foremost amongst the pioneers of civilization has been\nthe Christian Missionary, and one of the earliest Societies to enter\nthe field was our own. A remarkable and immediate result of the\ntravels of Livingstone was the occupation of Central Africa by some\nof the missionary organizations of Britain. The work commenced by our\nown Society, the Church Missionary Society, the Universities\u2019 Mission\nand the Presbyterian Missions was due directly or indirectly to the\ninfluence of that great Missionary explorer--David Livingstone.\n\nCentral Africa exercises a singular fascination on those who visit it.\nIts great lakes, its mighty rivers, its boundless forests, its glorious\nsunshine, the black races which inhabit it, all combine to make travel\nin that region a unique and delightful experience. In our case that\ntravel was made the more pleasant by the company of one and another of\nour missionaries on our journeys, and the great privilege we enjoyed\nof fellowship with them and their families in their homes, and the\nopportunities afforded us of seeing something of the work which they\nare carrying on amongst the people of the land.\n\nOne of the first impressions a traveller receives is that of the\nvastness of the territory and the comparative sparseness of the\npopulation. These facts, together with the want of facilities for rapid\ntravel, constitute serious difficulties in carrying on missionary work.\n\nMy colleague and I were the first Deputation from the Society to\nvisit Central Africa. As long ago as 1879 the Directors accepted an\noffer from the Society\u2019s Foreign Secretary, Dr. Mullens, to visit the\nMission. He proceeded to Zanzibar and started on his journey to Lake\nTanganyika, but died at Chakombe in July of that year and was buried\nin the C. M. S. cemetery at Mpwapwa, between Tabora and Dar-es-Salaam.\nSince that day conditions of travel and of life in Northern Rhodesia\n(which is the part of Central Africa in which the L. M. S. carries on\nnearly all its work) have completely changed. No more striking evidence\nof the change can be afforded than a comparison between the experiences\nof the early missionaries and of their successors, twenty-five years\nlater. The average term of service for the first ten missionaries\nwho served in Central Africa was well under three years. The ten\nmissionaries at present on the field have already to their credit an\naverage term of service of thirteen years, and the majority of them are\nstill under forty years of age. Moreover, in the first ten years of the\nMission eleven missionaries died on the field, and six were invalided\nhome, and (with one exception) did not return. During the last ten\nyears not a single missionary has died on the field, and no missionary\nhas retired on account of ill-health.\n\nIt was our good fortune to visit Central Africa during its winter, and\nour experience of the climate was altogether delightful. Even during\nthe hot season the heat is not so extreme as might be expected from\nthe geographical position of the country. At the Society\u2019s stations\nthe thermometer seldom, if ever, reaches 100\u00b0 Fahrenheit during the\nhottest season--a point often exceeded further south. Nevertheless,\nCentral Africa is still a trying place for many people. The liability\nto malarial fever, dysentery, and cognate diseases is considerable.\nNor must it be forgotten that all our stations are necessarily at a\nhigh altitude above sea level. The lowest of them--Kafukula--is nearly\nas high as the top of Snowdon, while all the remaining stations are\nbetween 4,700 and 5,600 feet up, except Mbereshi, the altitude of which\nis 3,900 feet. Life at this altitude is often trying to the nerves and\nheart, and the strain is all the more severe owing to the impossibility\nof securing a substantial change of altitude without great expenditure\nof time and money. The distance to the coast is so great, the travel\nis so trying, and the cost is so heavy that it is practically\nimpossible for our missionaries and their families to obtain a complete\nchange--either as a mid-term furlough or otherwise.\n\nPerhaps the best indication of the changed conditions of life and the\nimproved health of the Mission in these later days is afforded by the\nsplendid health enjoyed by the missionaries\u2019 children. The picture\nfacing this page speaks for itself.\n\nBut there is an aspect of life in Central Africa which must not be\nover-looked, namely its isolation. At only one of our stations is\nany other white man in residence. There are less than a dozen white\npeople--officials and a trader--at Kawambwa, the Government station\ntwenty miles from Mbereshi, and about a dozen at Abercorn--the\nMetropolis, as it is called, of the white people in the Society\u2019s\narea--ten miles from Kawimbe.\n\n [Illustration:\n\n _Photo by_] [_Bernard Turner._\n\n Hilda. Gay. Kenneth. Ethel. Dennis. Sylvia. Hope. Monica. Marjorie.\n Franklin.\n\n HEALTHY MISSIONARY CHILDREN IN CENTRAL AFRICA.]\n\nThe exercise of a little imagination will enable the reader to realise\nsomething of the loneliness of men and women living in a country\nwhere there are so few people of their own race. Moreover, the Mission\nstations are widely separated from each other. Mbereshi is five days\u2019\njourney from Mpolokoso, eight days\u2019 journey from Kambole, nine and\na-half days\u2019 journey from Kafukula, and eleven days\u2019 journey from\nKawimbe.\n\nFor the greater part of the three months following our departure from\nthe railway at Ndola we lived in tents, and travelled through the\ngreat Central African forest, which in fact extended nearly all the\nway from Bulawayo, the capital of Southern Rhodesia, to Dar-es-Salaam,\nthe capital of German East Africa, situated on the east coast of\nthe Continent, 80 miles south of Zanzibar. Almost the whole of this\ncountry is a plateau from 4,000 to 6,000 feet above the level of the\nsea. The southern part of this forest is traversed by the Zambesi,\nand the western portion is bounded by the Congo, there known as the\nLuapula, while situated on the table-land there are the great lakes of\nBangweolo, Mweru and Tanganyika, the two last of which we visited. In\ntravelling through the forest one day\u2019s journey is very like another,\nalthough each day abounds with a variety of incidents and new sights\nand new experiences for one who visits the country for the first time.\nA general description of the means and conditions of travel will\nsuffice.\n\nWe were almost wholly dependent upon native carriers. With the\nexception of bicycles and single-wheeled bush-cars there is no wheeled\ntraffic in Northern Rhodesia. There are practically no roads in our\nmeaning of that term. The travel-routes are native paths--often very\nnarrow and overgrown. In the long grass, which is a remarkable feature\nof the country, the path often cannot be seen, but can only be felt by\nthe feet. There are no inns or rest-houses. Tents, bedding, cooking\nutensils, food, etc., must all be carried everywhere. The minimum\nnumber of carriers required by one person on a short journey is about\ntwelve if a bicycle is used, or eighteen to twenty if a machila is the\nmeans of conveyance. A machila is a chair slung between two poles and\ncarried by four men. For longer journeys extra men are needed to carry\nsupplies, or in case of sickness among the carriers. Should native food\nnot be easily obtained--as at certain seasons is the case everywhere,\nand along many of the main travel-routes, more or less constantly all\nthe year round--five more men are needed for each week that food has\nto be carried. Carriers cost about 1s. 6d. per man per week away from\ntheir homes. The general practice is to pay 1s. a week in cash on\ndischarge, and the balance in calico, cash, salt or food, weekly in\nadvance. The speed of travel is, of course, dependent on the ability\nof the carriers, and the nature of the country traversed, but it may\nbe taken as about seventeen or eighteen miles a day, or three miles\nan hour, including rests. Sometimes over thirty miles is accomplished\nwith loads, or even more with a letter only. Our average day\u2019s travel\nfrom Ndola to Mbereshi was just under twenty miles, but on two days we\ncovered over thirty miles.\n\nOur experience of Central African travel was a delightful one. We left\nthe rail a week or two before the rainy season comes to an end in most\nyears, and we had been warned that we should probably meet with a good\ndeal of rain on our way to Mbereshi. We only had two or three showers\nthe whole way, and with one trifling exception all these fell after we\nwere in camp. We tasted some of the joys of crossing Central African\nswamps, but with the kindly assistance of our carriers, whose backs and\nshoulders were always at our service, we were none the worse. Numerous\nrivers and streams were crossed in dug-out canoes, on men\u2019s backs and\nshoulders, and by means of tree trunks, stones, or bridges made of the\nbranches of trees. The Luapula (Congo) was crossed in a steel boat.\n\nOn the recommendation of the missionaries on the spot we had provided\nourselves with bush-cars as our means of conveyance after leaving the\nrailway. A bush-car is a seat fixed over a motor-cycle wheel with\nsteel tube shafts back and front. It is propelled by two men, whereas\na machila requires four men, and thus a bush-car halves the cost of\ncarriers. Moreover, it is a much quicker means of conveyance than a\nmachila. The experiment was entirely justified. Some days we were\nenabled to travel upwards of thirty miles without undue fatigue.\n\nIt may be of interest to describe shortly a typical day\u2019s programme on\n\u201culendo\u201d--as travel with carriers is universally called in Northern\nRhodesia. We rose at six. Before we had finished dressing a number\nof carriers would be besieging our tents to snatch up our boxes and\nother luggage in order to make an early start. Within a few minutes\nof vacating our tents they would be taken down and made into suitable\nloads and our beds and bedding would be packed and carried away. We\nbreakfasted in the open air about 6.45, and generally by 7.15 or 7.30\nwe were under way. It was our custom to walk for the first hour or\ntwo in spite of the heavy dew, which during the first part of our\ntrip covered the giant grass and the trees until the sun was well up.\nFortunately for us the cavalcade of carriers who had gone on ahead\nacted as \u201cdew-driers\u201d by brushing the water off the grass as they\npassed along.\n\nFor the most part our journey lay through forest and bush and tall\ngrass, along native paths or roads three or four feet wide, which\nhad been made under the direction of the Government, but were often\novergrown with grass and shrubs except for a narrow track a foot or\neighteen inches in width, which had been kept clear by the constant\npassing of natives along it. The greater part of our travel was over\nthe plateau, on which the paths were fairly level except at the\ndepressions caused by the numerous streams which drain it. From time\nto time, however, there were steep, rocky hills to be surmounted, and\nthere were occasional swamps. It was not often possible to ride more\nthan a few miles in the bush-car without alighting and walking for some\ndistance. A very uncomfortable experience is to travel by bush-car or\non a bicycle along a path over which elephants have passed a short time\nbefore. The sensation of bumping over footprints fifteen inches across\nand three or more inches deep, and occupying the whole width of the\npath, can be better imagined than described.\n\nWe generally took luncheon between twelve and one, at a place where\nwater was to be found, either in a native village or in the forest. We\noften found the table spread and the meal awaiting us, but sometimes we\nhad to wait long for it if our luncheon box happened to be far behind\nus on the road. Then came two or three hours\u2019 further travel before we\nfinished our journey for the day. Then came a cup of tea, and as soon\nas the tents were pitched a bath and change of clothing. We dined about\nsunset. Then followed what was to us the most delightful of the day\u2019s\nexperiences. The rule on \u201culendo\u201d is for every man, when he collects\nthe firewood for his own watch fire, to bring a log for the white\nman\u2019s fire. Night after night we had magnificent camp-fires. Often the\nmissionary accompanying us would gather the men together for a service\nround the fire, and sometimes the villagers also came. Those camp-fire\nservices will long live in my memory. The men would sit round the fire,\nmost of them naked to the waist, with their faces lit up by the fitful\nflames or the light of the moon. They would listen with rapt attention\nto the reading of the Scriptures or the words of the missionary, or\nwould join in prayer, often led by one of themselves, with the utmost\ndevoutness. But the most impressive part to us of these services was\nthe hearty and reverent singing of the hymns in the native language to\ntunes well-known at home. These people have wonderful verbal memories.\nHymn books seemed quite superfluous. Many of them knew by heart most\nof the hymns in their collection, and it was quite evident that they\nmuch enjoyed singing them. After the men had dispersed to their own\ncamp-fires came an hour or two\u2019s talk round our fire before we sought\nthe shelter of our tents and our mosquito nets. It was our practice\nto join in English evening prayers immediately after dinner. But\noften long before we had left our chairs round the fire our native\nservants, and oft-times many of the carriers, would spread their mats,\nor, failing mats, lay some grass on the ground, as near the fire as\npossible, with their bare feet towards it, and wrap themselves in\nblanket or cloth and go to sleep under the stars, grateful for the\ngenial warmth of the fire in the cold night of a Central African\nwinter, and for the protection it afforded them against the beasts of\nprey who were often prowling near at hand.\n\nThus we travelled through Northern Rhodesia, visiting the stations of\nour Central Africa Mission, calling upon the European Magistrates and\nNative Commissioners, meeting Native Head-men and Chiefs, and passing\nthrough numbers of small native villages, at all of which we received\na hearty welcome. When we entered a village, or met native carriers\non the path through the forest, we were greeted with the salutation\n\u201cMutende,\u201d which, being interpreted, means \u201cPeace.\u201d The carriers would\ntake their loads off their heads or shoulders, squat down on their\nhaunches, clap their hands and give us their salutation. On leaving\na village we were often accompanied for a mile or two by a running\ncrowd of natives, consisting for the most part of women with babies\ntied upon their backs and laughing children, who would shout and sing\nas they ran behind and before the bush-cars or bicycle. We soon got\naccustomed to the sight of these natives, nearly all of them naked to\nthe waist, and many of the children altogether naked. Most of those\nwhom we saw were smiling, happy-looking people, but that there was\nanother side to the picture was often painfully apparent. In many\nvillages the faces of nearly all the adults were marked with small-pox.\nWe frequently met cripples and lepers. Sore eyes, caused by the smoke\nof the wood fires in the huts, for which there is no escape but the\ndoor, were much in evidence, and we heard sad stories of the high rate\nof mortality amongst these children of nature. Certain forms of disease\nwere very prevalent, and laid a heavy toll upon the people. Signs of\nthe superstition which shadowed their lives, and which is the main\nfeature of their animistic religions, were abundant. In many a village\nthe rude \u201cspirit-hut,\u201d with offerings of food spread in front of it was\nto be seen, and we heard many sad stories of the influence wielded by\nsorcerer and witch-doctor upon the lives of the people.\n\nEverywhere we experienced the good-will and hospitality of the\ninhabitants. On arrival at our camping places a dozen women would\nappear with brooms made of the twigs of the trees and brushes to sweep\nthe site of the camp clean before the tents were pitched. Others would\nhasten off to the nearest watering-place to get a supply of water in\nvery large rough clay vessels for ourselves and our men. We often\npitched our camp in the middle of a village, and on these occasions\nmany of our men slept in the huts of the villagers which had been\nwillingly vacated to afford this accommodation. Mealies, manioc, and\nnative flour would be purchased by the missionary in charge of the\nexpedition for the men, and fowls and eggs for our own larder. Portions\nof Scripture and hymn books would be sold by the missionary, and there\nwere many applications for them. Wherever we went the people were\nalways most grateful for any recognition of their efforts to show us\nhospitality. Their desire for books for themselves and schools for\ntheir children was everywhere apparent; while they were always willing\nto come to the open-air services round the camp-fires. In the parts\nof Northern Rhodesia through which our journey lay there were but\nsmall indications of the advance of Mohammedanism from the north, of\nwhich we had heard much. In the territory recognised as the Society\u2019s\nfield of operations we have the country almost to ourselves. But in\nthe northern part of this territory there were not wanting indications\nthat the followers of the \u201cfalse prophet\u201d were already at work. In the\nnorthern part of Central Africa Islam is advancing like a flood, and it\nwas clear that unless our Society is able effectively to occupy this\nterritory, we shall before many years be face to face with the growing\nforces of Mohammedanism in its most debased form. The light which is\nbrightening the sky in Central Africa has this background of threatened\ncloud and storm.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V\n\n The Brightness of His Rising\n\n Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is\n risen upon thee. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and\n gross darkness the peoples; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and\n his glory shall be seen upon thee. And nations shall come to thy\n light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.--ISAIAH.\n\n\nAfter fifteen days\u2019 travel by bush-car, on bicycle, and on foot we\nhad traversed the 286 miles between the railway and Mbereshi. We\ncrossed a strip of the Congo-Belge territory shortly after leaving the\nrailway. At Sakania, the first station over the boundary, all our men\nwere examined by the doctor, and everyone who had not had small-pox\nwas vaccinated. We heard a gruesome story of a native postman who had\nbeen arrested a fortnight before, in whose wallet a half-eaten human\nfoot had been discovered. A day or two later we crossed the Congo back\ninto Northern Rhodesia again. In the interval many rivers had to be\ncrossed, sometimes on tree trunks, but more often on the shoulders of\nour carriers. The forest was magnificent, one of its most striking\nfeatures, perhaps, being the large number of giant ant-hills, some\n30 feet high, generally around some great tree, and always covered\nwith bush and grass, flowers and trees. Butterflies were to be seen\nin myriads, exhibiting all the colours of the rainbow. The crossing\nof the Congo was a new experience. Descending the hill from the last\nBelgian Post Office, Kalunga, the post-master of which was a young\nBelgian Count, we crossed a bit of swampy ground on men\u2019s shoulders and\nthen reached the landing-place, where pandemonium was raging. Our crowd\nof carriers were there struggling for the two or three dug-out canoes\nin which to transport themselves and their loads across the river,\nwhich at this place--although it is thousands of miles from the sea--is\nconsiderably wider than the Thames at London Bridge. It swarms with\nhippopotami and crocodiles. But my most vivid recollection of the Congo\nis that one of my bearers managed to drop an iron box containing my\npapers into the river. Unfortunately it leaked and considerable damage\nresulted.\n\nThe village on the other side, in which we encamped, was typical of\nmany another village we passed through on our journey. Just behind our\ntents were three spirit-huts; all around us were native houses built\nof straw and mud, and then came an enormous growth of kaffir-corn\nabout twelve feet high. Surrounding this was forest, save where the\nriver wound its tortuous course. In the clear light of the evening the\nsomewhat sparse foliage stood out with great distinctness against the\nblue of the sky, each twig and leaf being defined as if seen through a\nstereoscope. The neighbourhood abounds with lions, leopards, elephants,\nbuffaloes, rhinoceros, zebras and hyenas.\n\nHalf-way on our journey we camped for one night at Fort Rosebery, the\nGovernment centre for the district. There we were the guests of the\nNative Commissioner, Mr. Denton Thompson, one of the small band of\nyoung Cambridge men who are now being employed by the Chartered Company\nas Magistrates and Native Commissioners. It is satisfactory to be able\nto state that almost without exception the Government officials we came\nacross in Northern Rhodesia were men really interested in the welfare\nof the natives and anxious to do their duty by them. Here as elsewhere\nwe received the kindest hospitality. Whenever we visited the Government\nstation we were invariably entertained by the officials, to whom no\ntrouble seemed too great which ministered to our comfort.\n\nDuring the following week we passed through country infested with\nlions. At Mupeta we saw the skin of an enormous lion which had been\nkilled the day before. During the previous week this lion had killed\nfive natives. The people in the village laid a trap for him by tying a\ngoat in an empty hut, on each side of the door of which they had dug\na pit and had covered them over with laths smeared with mud. At the\nbottom of the pits they had fixed spears pointing upwards. The lion\nfell into one of them and the natives, who were on the watch, speared\nhim from above. There were at least a dozen holes in his skin. In\nthis neighbourhood twenty-two natives had been killed by lions in a\nfortnight. We passed through one village where on the previous day a\nman had been carried off by a lion, and a day or two before a woman and\na child, who were laying fish traps in the stream, had been killed and\ncarried away.\n\nOn our arrival at Mbereshi we received a very warm welcome. About five\nmiles from the station some fifty boys met us and ran with us along the\nbroad road, which has been made by Mr. Nutter, for some distance into\nthe forest. The men in charge of the bush-cars raced at full speed.\nGroups of people met us nearer the station, all of whom joined the\nracing cavalcade. Loud peals of thunder kept reverberating overhead\nand drowned the reports of the guns which were fired to welcome us. We\narrived just as the first drops of a terrific thunderstorm fell. Mr.\nNutter\u2019s house was soon crowded with natives, and there was endless\nshouting and hand-shaking. Never had the natives had such a time in\nMbereshi. The whole village rose to the occasion and turned out to give\nthe representatives of the L. M. S. a hearty welcome. On the following\nday we were the recipients of numerous presents of fowl, flour, goats\nand eggs.\n\n [Illustration:\n\n _Photo by_] [_Bernard Turner._\n\n NATIVE WITH FISH TRAP.]\n\nMbereshi is a delightful station with a magnificent view to the\nwestward from the front of the Mission Houses, rolling parkland and\nforest, with the Mofwe Lagoon four miles away on the horizon. Along\nthe shores of this lake and beyond there are about thirty villages\nwith a large population, which has settled there as a result of the\nregulations to combat the sleeping-sickness. These have had the effect\nof driving the Natives from the east and south shores of Lake Mweru\nto the Mofwe villages. All the missionary activities of a flourishing\nMission station are in operation. There are Sunday services, schools,\nclasses for hearers and catechumens, and prayer meetings. The\nChristians from the head-station go out to the villages on Sundays to\nconduct services. Industrial work is being carried on under the able\nsuperintendence of Mr. Bernard Turner. The fame of the cabinet-making\nand carpentry of the boys trained by him is spread far and wide\nover Northern Rhodesia. Much of the furniture in the houses of the\nGovernment officials was manufactured here or at Kambole. Medical\nwork, too, has been carried on at this station, and for several years\na doctor was in residence. Leprosy is common. In the district there\nare 147 registered cases, and probably not less than 200 people are\nsuffering from the disease. Our Mission work was commenced here in\n1900, and the early days were times of great trial. One of the first\nmissionaries, Mr. Purvis, died there in 1901, a fortnight after Mr.\nNutter\u2019s arrival, and his grave is to be seen under a tree near the\nMission houses. In 1903 a missionary and a missionary\u2019s wife died on\ntwo successive days. God buries his workmen, but carries on His work.\n\nDuring our stay at Mbereshi we visited Kazembe, the paramount Chief of\nthe district, who nominally rules over 30,000 people. His town is some\nsix miles away from Mbereshi, through the thick forest and the long\ngrass. He received us outside his hut in the centre of the kraal, in\nwhich are a hundred huts for his hundred wives. He was seated on the\nground, gorgeously and grotesquely adorned with beads and skins and\ngaily coloured skirts, and wore four large bells, gaiters of beads, and\nnumerous heavy anklets above his bare feet.\n\nWe sat down on low stools and Mr. Nutter helped us to talk to him. He\nshowed us his treasures. One was a bloodthirsty-looking dagger which\nhad belonged to ten chiefs before him, and had often been used to kill\nmen. He produced a large number of charms, which he believes keep the\nlions away, and played tunes on a wooden drum cut by himself out of a\nsolid tree trunk and decorated with brass-headed nails. He uses this\nto call his servants when he wants them. The heads of the drum-sticks\nare made of raw rubber. He sent for another and much larger drum made\nin the same fashion, and carried by two men on a pole, and also showed\nus two dulcimers made of wood and calabash. He gave us some raw green\nmealies (Indian corn) to eat. Kazembe smoked cigarettes, and when\na member of the party offered him one he wanted to keep the silver\ncigarette-case. Then he took us to the Mission School where there were\n186 black boys and girls, many of whom were quite naked, and most of\nthe rest were dressed in pieces of string!\n\nA day or two afterwards Kazembe came to pay us a return visit,\naccompanied by hundreds of his followers. He was seated on a platform\nsuspended between two tree trunks and carried by thirty men, a great\numbrella being held over his head. He himself beat his wooden drum to\ntell us he was coming, and a man carrying great yellow and black flags\nwalked in front of him, and when he got off the platform he strutted\nabout like a peacock.\n\nTwenty years ago the Chief was a great warrior, and often led his\ntribe to battle; but the coming of the British Government and of the\nmissionaries has changed all that. For fifteen years not a shot has\nbeen fired in anger in his country, and the nearest British soldier or\npoliceman is stationed more than a thousand miles away at Bulawayo.\nSuch is the influence of the Pax Britannica in Northern Rhodesia!\n\nOn another day we crossed the picturesque Mbereshi river by the ferry\nin two dug-out canoes, passing through masses of cream and mauve\nwater-lilies, visiting a considerable number of the Mofwe villages,\ninspecting the schools and receiving the greetings of the Chiefs and\nHeadmen, with whom we exchanged gifts. The villages consist of one wide\nstreet, and are almost continuous. The people live on fish and tapioca.\nAt the farthest point at the north end of the Lagoon was a village, on\nthe site of an older moated village, where Livingstone stayed for some\nweeks when he first visited the district. We interviewed one or two of\nthe old inhabitants, who well remembered seeing him and were able to\ndescribe him to us.\n\nAfter a stay of ten days at Mbereshi we plunged into the forest again\nand journeyed to Chiengi on the north-east shore of Lake Mweru, which\nwas discovered by Livingstone in the late sixties. On the way we\npaid a visit to Kashiba, a proposed site for the new station for the\nChiengi district. This visit brought home to us very clearly some of\nthe discomforts of Central African travel. After leaving our camp we\nhad to traverse some half-mile of bad swamp, being carried through\nseveral stretches of water on the shoulders of our bearers. I used a\nbicycle, but before we had gone very far a tremendous storm broke and\nflooded the path. We sought shelter in a hut in one of the villages.\nThere was a fire inside, the smoke from which filled the hut and only\npartially escaped through the thatch and the door. Except for the glow\nof the fire and the flashes of lightning seen through the doorway\nit was perfectly dark. The village street gradually became a raging\ntorrent. After the storm had ceased we pushed on through the long\ngrass, six to ten feet high and laden with water, arching over the\nnarrow winding path. We passed through a succession of villages, and\nas we neared the site of the proposed station the people, who knew why\nwe were coming and who are most anxious to have a missionary residing\namongst them, gave us an ovation. The site overlooks the rapids of the\ngreat Kalungwishi river, and a mile away a column of spray indicated\nthe presence of a great waterfall. Another deluge of rain descended\nas we turned back. I hastened in front on the bicycle and reached the\nswamp as it was getting dark. The heavy rain had converted it into a\nlake. I rode along the path until the water was up to the pedals, then\nI dismounted and pushed the machine. Soon both wheels were under water.\nIt grew deeper and deeper until finally, when the water became breast\nhigh, I was obliged to lift the machine and carry it over my head. Such\nare the joys of travel in Central Africa!\n\nNext day we entered the sleeping-sickness area and crossed the great\nGame Reserve to get our first sight of Lake Mweru. The day afterwards\nwe arrived at Chiengi, after experiencing the delights of travelling on\na narrow path along which for miles elephants had been walking after\nthe rain. Cycling under such conditions is a somewhat trying experience.\n\nThe view of Lake Mweru from the verandah of the Native Commissioner\u2019s\nhouse at Chiengi is of surpassing loveliness. To the south the lake\nstretches away as far as the eye can see, bordered on the left side by\nthe forest and on the right by the mountains of the Belgian Congo 25\nmiles away. Opposite, a little to the south, is Lunza, the beautiful\nhome of Mr. Dan Crawford, the famous author of \u201cThinking Black.\u201d At\none\u2019s feet the water broke in tiny wavelets on the golden sand. Its\nmusic was in our ears throughout our stay. The Central African sunset\nfrom Chiengi was a sight to be remembered. The sun went down behind a\nbar of cloud. A purple light, which rapidly turned to green, lit up the\nwestern shores of the lake. After the sun had sunk below the horizon\nthere was a perfect blaze of colour over a large portion of the sky,\nand purple, green and golden light stretched in broad bands above the\nsurface of the lake.\n\nFrom Chiengi we journeyed to Mpolokoso, the newest of the stations\nof the L. M. S. in Central Africa, where Dr. McFarlane has a small\nhospital consisting of eight native huts. Our stay here was curtailed\nowing to a very serious outbreak of small-pox, nearly half the\ninhabitants of the village suffering from this scourge. Most of\nthose who were not isolated in the segregation camp had already had\nthe disease. Mpolokoso himself, the Chief of the village, succumbed\nto it a few days later. The Government officials were using every\neffort to stay the spread of the disease; all infected huts were at\nonce destroyed by fire, and no one was allowed to enter or leave the\nvillage. The thin columns of smoke ascending from the burning huts into\nthe cloudless sky told a pathetic tale. On arrival our carriers were\nput into custody to prevent them mixing with the people, and every\nprecaution was taken for the safety of ourselves and our men. One felt\ngreat sympathy with Mr. Cullen Gouldsbury, the Native Commissioner,\nupon whom great responsibility rested. Mr. Gouldsbury is a man of many\nparts. He is in the service of the British South Africa Company\u2019s\nAdministration, and we had many indications of the sympathetic way\nin which he carried out his duties in looking after the welfare of\nthe natives. Moreover, he is a poet of no mean order, a constant\ncontributor of verse to the columns of the _Bulawayo Chronicle_, has\nwritten a delightful book of poems, is the joint author of \u201cThe Great\nPlateau of Northern Rhodesia,\u201d the most authoritative work on the\ncountry through which we were travelling, and last year published a\nbook entitled \u201cAn African Year.\u201d He has always been a friend of the\nMission, and it will be of interest to quote his testimony from his\nlatest book, as to one of our missionaries and his wife, which is\nrendered all the more valuable by the fact that Mr. Gouldsbury is\nhimself a Roman Catholic.\n\n \u201cMy views upon missionaries and their work, from the general point of\n view, stand recorded elsewhere. I have no intention of recapitulating\n them here. Let me rather dwell upon the personal standpoint, as\n exemplified in the festive little couple who are our neighbours at\n ---- six miles away.\n\n \u201cLet us call them Saunders--since that is not their name, and quite\n sufficiently unlike it--Joseph Saunders and Jane his wife.\n\n \u201cAll missionaries in this country, whether Baptist, Presbyterian,\n Church of England, or White Fathers, are hard-working, whatever else\n they may be. Saunders himself is a man hung upon wires, each of which\n would seem charged with a full circuit of electricity. He and his wife\n and the sun rise together--a most energetic trio. Before breakfast\n he has conducted service, taught for an hour or two in the school,\n visited the workshops and checked the labourers about the station.\n During the rest of the day he is occupied with blacksmithery, joinery\n and the like--laid in slabs between other chunks of teaching. As\n likely as not in the evening he will go out after a buck, for Joseph\n Saunders is that _rara avis_ among missionaries, a keen hunter; and\n after dinner if there are people in the house he will play ping-pong\n till all is blue. Not the ordinary ping-pong, you may be sure; that\n does not afford sufficient outlet for his exuberant spirits. Kapembwa\n ping-pong has mysterious rules of its own, such as that the players\n must bound upon the table between the strokes, or lie flat on the\n floor between serving and receiving the return. It is a curious game.\n I can generally stay out two sets, after that Beryl (the author\u2019s\n wife) and I sit on the sofa and watch Saunders and his wife play.\n\n \u201cAs for Mrs. Saunders, she is one of the nicest little women in\n Africa. Demure, placid, and the very antithesis of Joseph--an adorable\n touch of Lancashire in her soft drawling speech, and an utter freedom\n from affectation or pose of any kind--she is the ideal next-door\n neighbour in Central Africa.\n\n \u201cSaunders sent over the _junga_ for Beryl, so that she was able\n to cover the six miles in comparative comfort, while I paddled\n furiously behind upon an antediluvian bicycle. For the benefit of\n the uninitiated I should perhaps explain that a _junga_ is anything\n which moves upon wheels. Originally it meant a bicycle, but in this\n particular instance it refers to a marvellous construction, balanced\n upon one wheel, which has been built by Saunders himself in the\n Kapembwa workshop out of some old packing cases and gas piping,\n and which has to my mind solved the question of locomotion in this\n country.\u201d\n\nWe stayed for two nights at the Mission house at Mpolokoso with Dr.\nMcFarlane. On account of the small*pox it was impossible to visit the\nschools or to meet with the people, though on the Sunday night some\nhalf-dozen of the Mission staff, who do not live in the village, met us\nand presented us with a generous offering to the L. M. S. of \u00a34 12s.\n6d., made by the infant Church, which consisted of nine members only,\na welcome token of the missionary spirit of the newest and smallest of\nthe Central African Churches.\n\nTravelling eastward from Mpolokoso we reached Kambole, near the south\nend of Lake Tanganyika, after three days\u2019 journey. On our way we had\nour first view of this great lonely lake, eight miles away through the\ntrees, probably from the very spot where Livingstone saw it for the\nfirst time. As we approached the station the people ran beside the\nbicycle and bush-car shouting their salutations and showing their joy\nin welcoming us in many other ways.\n\nKambole is the centre of a very widely-scattered district, and is in\nan isolated position. The nearest village is an hour and a-half\u2019s walk\naway from the station-village, and some out-stations lie three or four\ndays\u2019 journey distant. It takes the missionaries five weeks\u2019 continuous\ntravelling to make a circuit of the district.\n\nMany branches of missionary work are carried on at this centre. We\nattended crowded services in the Church, and meetings with the classes\nfor hearers, catechumens, teachers and women. Some ninety-six youths,\nwho were teachers at the schools in the outstations, at which there\nare 1,800 scholars, gathered at Kambole during our visit to attend the\nschool for the training of teachers, which is held twice a year at\nthe head station and lasts for about two months. Mr. Stewart Wright,\none of the Kambole missionaries, carries on an extensive out-patient\nwork at the dispensary near the wattle-and-daub church. Mr. Ross, the\nother missionary, is engaged in manifold activities and has charge\nof the industrial department which was established and carried on\nso successfully by Mr. Bernard Turner, who is now at Mbereshi. The\nprolific mission garden is another indication of the practical value\nof Mr. Turner\u2019s work. It is excellently irrigated by the construction\nof water-furrows. Palms, limes, bamboos, bananas, yams, pineapples,\nguavas, grenadiloes, coffee, wheat, tapioca, rice, rubber, and many\nvegetables and flowers flourish abundantly.\n\nHalf-an-hour\u2019s walk from the Mission House, along an eight-foot road\ncut through the forest for a mile and a-half, at a total cost of \u00a32\n10s. 0d., takes one to the edge of the Tanganyika Plateau, where there\nis a sheer fall of from 400 to 500 feet. On the right is the river,\nwhich descends in a series of beautiful waterfalls, arched over with\nfoliage and rock, to the level of the lake below. In front the lake\nstretches away into the distance extending for 400 miles northward.\nIt is bordered on the left by the mountains of the Belgian Congo\nand on the right by the hills of German East Africa. At the foot of\nthe precipice is a fertile valley, once thickly populated but now\nuninhabited, owing to the sleeping sickness, and through this beautiful\nvalley flows the river Lovu.\n\nAt Kambole we came across a cripple, by name Kalolo, whose history\naffords an illustration of the sort of missionary work which is being\ncarried on in our Central Africa Mission.\n\nMr. Ross found Kalolo at Katwe, near Kambole, in 1906, destitute and\nemaciated, cowering over a few embers of fire, his feet a mass of\nputrid ulcers, which had not been washed or dressed for many a long\nday. He seemed to have no relations. Mr. Ross brought him to the\nstation at Kambole, and on his arrival prepared lotions for him, and\nput him in charge of another youth, also a cripple, whom he told to\nwash Kalolo\u2019s sores. Cripple No. 2, by name Nundo, was afraid and\ndemurred. Mr. Ross took him into the house and read to him the story\nof the Good Samaritan, and told him to go and help Kalolo. He then\nconsented, and assisted the missionary to attend to Kalolo for a long\ntime. Mr. Ross had taught Nundo to repair boots and shoes, and this\nwork he did for some time, but ultimately disappeared while Mr. Ross\nwas on furlough. Mr. and Mrs. Ross did their best for Kalolo for five\nyears, thus bearing witness to the people of the compassionate spirit\nof the Gospel they had come to teach. The Mission doctors when visiting\nthe station treated Kalolo, but at last (in 1910) Dr. Wareham, after\nvainly endeavouring to cure his tedious ulcers by palliative measures,\namputated both feet. When Kalolo returned to consciousness he was so\ndepressed that he tried to destroy himself. He still bears a scar on\nhis forehead caused by dashing his head upon the ground in his despair.\nHe was, however, brought through that crisis, and when he had recovered\nhe was sent back to Kambole station. A wooden waggon was made in the\njoiner\u2019s shop to enable him to get about. Then he was taught boot and\nshoe repairing, as the Europeans in the neighbourhood all sent their\nboots and shoes to Kambole to be repaired. Kalolo was highly delighted\nto have a means of making a living, and became a most useful man at\nthat station. Later, when Mr. Ross wished to find employment for two\nblind men who came seeking work, he put them with Kalolo to grind\nwheat. They proved to be a most successful trio at this work, and in\nsawing up timber with the cross-cut saw, at which employment they were\nengaged during my visit. Kalolo came to Mr. Ross long ago to say that\nhe wished to join the Enquirers\u2019 Class, and was enrolled. He afterwards\ncame to the missionary and offered to help to dress the repulsive sores\nof another unfortunate occupant of the little station hospital. Thus\nthe light of the Gospel is spreading in Darkest Africa, and the Native\ntorch-bearers are lifting it high, and passing it on from hand to hand\nuntil \u201cthe beauty and the glory of the Light\u201d shall illumine the people\nthat are now sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.\n\nAccompanied by a large crowd of people, who escorted us on our way\nfor two or three miles, we left Kambole, still travelling eastward,\nfor Kafukula, a mission station near the south-eastern corner of\nLake Tanganyika, staying for a night at a village to which some of\nthe people on the lake shore had been moved in consequence of the\nsleeping-sickness. It was amongst these people that Livingstone stayed\nfor some weeks when he first visited the lake. The exterior of many\nof the huts was decorated with charms in the shape of snail shells.\nNearly all the women of the village had holes, about the size of\nfive-shilling pieces, in the lobes of their ears, in which large discs\nof wood, decorated with grotesque specimens of native art, were placed.\n\n [Illustration:\n\n _Photo by_] [_Ernest H. Clark._\n\n KAFUKULA MISSION HOUSE, WHICH COST \u00a340.]\n\nOn the following day, escorted by Mr. Clark, the Kafukula missionary,\nwe reached that station, having descended some 2,000 feet from the edge\nof the Plateau, enjoying on the way magnificent views of the lake,\nnear the shores of which we could see the ruins of the old Mission\nstation at Niamkolo, which we were to visit a few days later. The\nKafukula Mission house is a wattle-and-daub erection, and one of the\nmost picturesque residences in Central Africa, as will be seen from the\npicture on the opposite page. It was built by Mr. Clark in 1910 at a\ntotal cost of \u00a340. The view from the verandah can never be forgotten.\nIn front the valley shelves down to the lake shore some 300 feet below.\nA small island, which is the property of the Society, nestles in the\nlake close to the bank, while beyond away to the north stretch the\ncrystal waters in their mysterious loneliness. The eastern shore is\nvisible for some distance, but the western is hidden by the trees in\nthe foreground. This exquisite picture is framed by the forest-crowned\nhills on either side.\n\nWe had a great reception. As soon as we were seen descending the hill\nthe drums began to beat, the bugle sounded and a gun was discharged.\nThe people showed their gladness by smacking their mouths with their\nhands while emitting a clear bell-like sound. At the bottom of the hill\nthe village Headman, a Christian, and a Church member of many years\u2019\nstanding, met us, and we walked into the village between rows of people\nwho, as we passed along, closed in behind and formed a long procession.\nHere and there were groups of children singing hymns, some of them in\nthe native language and some in English. We passed through the village\nand down the slope to the beautiful river Lunzua, a rushing torrent,\nover which a primitive bridge of tree-trunks and mud in the shape of a\ncrescent moon leads to the path to the Mission house, which is situated\non a hill on the other side and is reached by a flight of forty-five\nsteps.\n\nKafukula is the village to which many of the people from Niamkolo on\nthe lake shore were moved in consequence of the sleeping-sickness\nregulations. During our stay we paid a visit to Niamkolo and the lake.\nThe following description, written on the evening of the day of our\nvisit, will speak for itself:--\n\n \u201cWe were up early--as is usual in Central Africa. After breakfast\n we started for Niamkolo and the lake shore. On Mr. Clark\u2019s advice I\n donned my \u2018ulendo\u2019 dress--a large white sun-helmet, a khaki flannel\n bush-shirt, khaki shorts, and stout boots and stockings and leather\n leggings. The Mission family accompanied us, Mrs. Clark travelling in\n a machila; the children--Dennis and Marjorie Clark--were accommodated\n in a box slung on a pole, carried by two men. My colleague travelled\n in a chair suspended between two poles and carried by relays of four\n men. Mr. Clark and I walked. It was a glorious morning. We stayed for\n a few moments at two villages to see the schools, or rather to see the\n teacher and his scholars, for school is held in a kind of stockade\n open to the sky, but partially shaded by a tree. The children sang\n lustily some verses of Mambwe hymns. Like all Central Africans they\n have wonderful memories, and soon learn the hymn-book of nearly one\n hundred hymns by heart.\n\n \u201cThe walk was somewhat arduous, as much of it was through very long,\n thick, bamboo-like grass. Beyond the second village the land is\n uninhabited, and is forbidden ground owing to the sleeping-sickness\n regulations. We had to obtain special passes from the officials at\n Abercorn to permit us to make the trip. Mr. Clark had gone down with\n thirty men a week before to clear the path as much as possible and to\n burn the grass where necessary and practicable. It was an eight-mile\n walk to the former Mission station at Niamkolo, and nearly two miles\n further to the shore. The old station was a pathetic sight. The brick\n house in which the Stewart Wrights and the Clarks had lived was in\n ruins, as it had been left after the fire seven years ago. The walls\n were standing to the first floor, and inside trees, shrubs and grasses\n were growing in wild profusion. It was on Saturday evening, the 29th\n June, 1906, that the detached kitchen took fire in a great gale of\n wind. The sparks were carried on to the thatch of the dwelling house,\n and in two hours the place was burnt out--very little being saved.\n The Clarks were there to see their home destroyed before their eyes.\n This was the first time Mrs. Clark had visited the spot since the\n conflagration.\n\n \u201cThen came the walk down the hill past the site of the house in which\n Mr. and Mrs. Hemans, the black missionaries from Jamaica, used to\n live. Then we crossed the plain, once a great garden and rice field,\n now a swamp, to reach the Church and the shore. I was carried across\n the swamp by two men holding hands, on which I sat with my arms round\n their necks. We reached the ruins of the Church about mid-day. It\n is picturesquely situated on a hill overlooking the south end of\n the lake, and the island belonging to the Society. Its appearance\n suggests, on a smaller scale, the ruins of Iona Cathedral far more\n than those of a Church in Central Africa. The walls and gable end\n and the roofless bell-tower are still standing--and what walls\n they are!--all of light stone fashioned in large slabs, and a yard\n thick. We had lunch in the bell-tower in some trepidation, as the\n over-hanging stones threatened to fall, and then we made our way down\n to the stony beach, where we lingered long. The scene was beautiful\n beyond description. The lake stretched away to the north into the\n \u2018glow and glory of the distance,\u2019 where water and sky met on the\n horizon. The hills on each side were clothed with sylvan loveliness.\n The sky was reflected on the bosom of the water. White cloud was piled\n on white cloud with many a glimpse of deepest blue, and the glorious\n sunshine dominated the scene. It was a dream of beauty.\n\n \u201cThe beach is covered with the loveliest shells of all descriptions.\n As we sat on the shore the wind blew the spray from the waves into our\n faces. The children and I paddled, and though, doubtless, there were\n crocodiles in the bulrushes to our left, we did not see any. After tea\n we turned our faces towards Kafukula. Long before we arrived at our\n destination the shadows of departing day crept on, and by the time\n we reached the villages it was quite dark. The sunset was worthy of\n the beauty of the day. For some moments the western sky looked like\n the very gate of the eternal. Then the fireflies flitted about in\n thousands. Their light was, however, from time to time obliterated,\n as it were, by flashes of summer lightning. Then the moon came out,\n nearly at her fullest, and lit up the landscape with clear, cool,\n placid light, and in the solemn beauty of the scene we forgot all\n about the lions and puff-adders which infest the country after dark.\n\n \u201cWe had a great reception in the villages. The people all turned out\n and greeted us, and bade us farewell with ear-splitting salutations,\n following us for two miles and keeping up an unearthly noise all the\n time. Then all was peaceful again as Mr. Clark and I reached Kafukula,\n and crossed the arched bridge over the rushing river, and climbed up\n the steps to the Mission House. From the verandah we could see the\n great lake ten miles away peacefully asleep in the moonlight. It has\n been a glorious day, which will live in the memory as long as life\n lasts.\u201d\n\nEvangelistic and educational work is carried on in Kafukula itself and\nin the district of which it is the centre. Services and classes for\ninquirers and catechumens are regularly held, and the missionary visits\nthe whole district three times a year, conducting services, inspecting\nschools, interviewing inquirers and carrying on the usual missionary\nactivities. There are seventy-nine teachers connected with the station\nwhose wages range from \u00a31 (one senior teacher alone gets this; the next\ngets 9s. 6d.), to 1s. 6d. a month, and these wages are only paid during\nthe six or seven months that teaching in the schools is carried on. If\nthe teacher is placed far from his home he gets in addition 1s. a month\nfor food. There is also an evangelist, paid at the rate of 6s. a month,\nwho visits and preaches in the villages. There are 1,300 scholars in\nthirty-two schools, and their education consists of reading, writing,\nvery elementary arithmetic and the memorising of the Lord\u2019s Prayer, the\nCommandments, the Beatitudes and other passages of Scripture and hymns.\nValuable medical work is also carried on. Some of the teachers acquire\na little knowledge of the English language, which they are proud to\nshow off on occasion. After our meeting with the teachers we received a\nletter in English, signed by some seventy of them and addressed to the\nDirectors, from which the following extracts may be given as specimens\nof their English scholarship. The opening sentence is as follows:\n\n \u201cWe are exceedingly glad to write you this little note to give you\n a hearty greeting to you all in this district, so that the old men,\n women childrens, boys and girls and whose tribes of this country are\n anxiously to send you a good compliments as they couldn\u2019t reach there\n to see your faces or to gathered in the same Church.\u201d\n\n It goes on: \u201cBut we were very glad to receipt those representatives\n who came from their long journey as far as when they came from and we\n had a very good general service and Mr. Horlick was one who had held\n the service in our Church and it was interests wonderful to hear from\n him about his describes preaching he told us many things about jesus\n christ our saviour and how a man would follow the secularity of the\n kingdom of God.\u201d\n\n The letter concluded as follows: \u201cWe thanks you very much for sending\n us these Deputation to visit us and to hear many things from them\n how do you loved us. We haven\u2019t more information to tell you about.\n farewell, Sirs with lots of salutation to all. We hope you are whole\n in good health we should like to hear if you are better.\u201d\n\n\u201cMr. Horlick\u201d requires some explanation. The natives were not familiar\nwith the names of the strangers who had come amongst them, but seeing\non the walls of the verandah a glazed sheet, which had arrived a few\ndays before, advertising the merits of \u201cHorlick\u2019s Malted Milk,\u201d they\nassumed that this \u201cbanner with a strange device\u201d had some reference to\ntheir visitors. Hence the mistake.\n\nFrom Kafukula we continued our journey eastward to Kawimbe, the oldest\nof the Society\u2019s Mission stations in Central Africa. On the road, which\nwas hilly and very beautiful, we were met by Dr. Wareham. At Abercorn,\nthe Government centre for the northern part of Northern Rhodesia, we\nwere hospitably entertained by the Magistrate, and then we continued\nour journey to Kawimbe, ten miles away, where another great welcome\nawaited us. Hundreds came out to meet us, many of the women and girls\nbeing decorated for the occasion with yellow and red flowers in their\nblack woolly hair. They escorted us, laughing, singing and dancing all\nthe way to the Mission station, which is 5,600 feet above the level\nof the sea, and picturesquely situated in a shallow basin. The native\nvillage is built on the hillside half-a-mile away, and is well laid\nout. Four miles off to the west is Fwambo, the original site of the\nfirst Mission station on the Tanganyika Plateau. A few miles to the\neast is the boundary between Northern Rhodesia and German East Africa.\nTo the south-east is the fertile and populous Saise Valley, forty miles\nalong which the sphere of the Society\u2019s work abuts upon the field of\nthe great Livingstonia Mission of the Free Church of Scotland. It may\nbe mentioned that the river Congo takes its rise a few miles south of\nthe Mission station. We remained at Kawimbe for nearly three weeks.\nThe Annual Meetings of the Central Africa District Committee were held\nthere during our stay. The first week was spent in seeing the work,\nvisiting parts of the district and interviewing the missionaries and\npreparing for the meetings of the District Committee. One day, under\nthe guidance of Mr. Govan Robertson, we spent over twelve hours in\nvisiting several of the villages of the district, and accomplished the\nlatter part of the journey in the dark. We shall long remember the\nstruggle in the dusk through the almost impenetrable undergrowth of a\npicturesque mountain pass, and afterwards through the long grass.\n\nThe three Sundays spent at Kawimbe were days of great interest. On\nthe first two large numbers of people came in to meet us from the\nneighbouring villages. On the second a crowded harvest-thanksgiving\nservice was held at which offerings in kind were contributed, including\nsheep, goats, fowl, eggs, nuts, maize, beans, flour, cloth, bracelets,\ncash, etc. On the third Sunday I visited one of the adjacent villages\nwith Mr. Robertson. Communion Services for the Native Christians\nand the Missionaries were held. An interesting incident during our\nstay was the unveiling of a brass tablet in the Church commemorating\nthe twenty-fifth anniversary of the commencement of the work on the\nPlateau.\n\nThe work at Kawimbe is divided amongst the three missionaries by mutual\narrangement. We had not the pleasure of meeting the senior missionary,\nMr. Draper, who was away on furlough.\n\nAn early morning prayer meeting, a morning service and an afternoon\nclass are held every Sunday. The number of Church members has been\nsteadily increasing in later years and has now reached forty-seven.\nThere are in addition fifty Catechumens (Christians under probation).\nThe Church work, as far as the men are concerned, has been affected\nby the attraction of better pay offered elsewhere at the mines,\nin the stores and in German East Africa. Most, however, of the\nChristian men who have remained at Kawimbe have gone out regularly to\npreach, and some have conducted Bible classes in the villages in the\nneighbourhood. Besides the station classes and Sunday schools there\nhave been during last year classes in fifty-three villages, attended\nby over 900 persons. There is a branch of the International Bible\nReading Association. The Educational work makes steady progress, and\nschools are held in every village in the extensive district. At the\nclose of 1912 there were 2,408 children on the school rolls, with an\naverage attendance of 1,691. For the most part the school buildings\nare provided by the people themselves. Dr. Wareham carries on a much\nvalued medical work, connected with which is a small hospital admirably\nadapted for its purpose.\n\nOur visit to Kawimbe completed our tour of the Society\u2019s Central Africa\nstations.\n\nNorthern Rhodesia can still be described as a land that is dark, but at\nthe mission stations we visited, and at many a little outstation, the\nlight of the Gospel is being kindled, and everywhere there is promise\nthat the darkness is turning to dawning. The Church is in its infancy,\nbut it is a growing Church; and, under the blessing of God, will in the\ndays that are coming be His instrument in spreading the light where now\nthe darkness reigns.\n\n\n\n\n C.--MADAGASCAR\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI\n\n =Tananarive--\u201cA City Set on a Hill\u201d=\n\n Earth has not anything to show more fair;\n Dull would he be of soul who could pass by\n A sight so touching in its majesty:\n This City now doth, like a garment, wear\n The beauty of the morning.\n\n WORDSWORTH.\n\nWe travelled from Kawimbe in Northern Rhodesia to Madagascar by way\nof German East Africa and Zanzibar. Owing to unavoidable delays at\nthe ports the journey occupied ten weeks. For the first three we\ntravelled by chair and bicycle and on foot, northward to Tabora, along\na road almost parallel with the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. On\nthe first night we encamped at a village near the Kalambo river, the\nboundary between Northern Rhodesia and German East Africa, close to\nthe wonderful Kalambo Falls. The river, which is deep and about thirty\nyards wide, plunges over a perpendicular wall of rock 900 feet high\ninto an awful chasm in one sheer drop. The rocky walls on each side\nof the gorge are vertical. Looking westward one has a lovely view\nof Lake Tanganyika, vignetted between cloudless blue sky and the\npurple-breasted mountains in which the gorge terminates, lying calm and\npeaceful in the \u201csplendour shadowless and broad.\u201d\n\nA week-end was spent at Kasanga, now known as Bismarckburg, the\nadministrative centre of the southern part of German East Africa, where\nwe met some educated and courteous German officials, who have always\ndone what they could to facilitate the missionary work of the Society\nin the small section of their territory in which it is being carried\non, and gave us some interesting information with regard to native\ncustoms and superstitions. We learnt that the natives offer sacrifices\nof goats, sheep and fowls at the Kalambo Falls to propitiate the gods\nwho are supposed to dwell in the chasm, and to bring them luck. They\nhave a superstition that the land at the bottom of the Falls would\nbelong to the posterity of any person who threw himself over. A woman\nrecently sacrificed herself in this way, and the Chief gave the land\nat the foot of the Falls to her family. When twins are born it is the\ncustom to do away with one of them. Children who cut the upper teeth\nfirst are killed. Cannibalism amongst the natives is by no means\nextinct, and as late as six years ago a European was killed and eaten.\nThere are well authenticated recent cases of the widow of a Chief being\nburied alive in the grave of her dead husband. This part of German East\nAfrica is certainly a land that is dark.\n\nBut I must not linger over the journey. Towards the end of June we\nreached Tabora, a large native town of some 30,000 inhabitants, whence\nwe took train to Dar-es-Salaam on the east coast of the Continent--the\ncapital of the German colony. This place is beautifully situated on\nthe shores of a land-locked harbour, and the streets are bordered\nwith stately cocoanut palms and shady acacias. It was formerly the\ncentre of the Arab slave trade, but, to-day, except for the tropical\nvegetation, it reminds one of a modern European town. A few hours on\na steamer brought us to Zanzibar, one of the most fascinating places\nwe visited in our travels. After a stay of some days there we embarked\non the Messageries Maritimes boat for Tamatave, on the east coast of\nMadagascar. On the boat we joined our colleague in the Deputation work\nin Madagascar, Mr. Talbot Wilson, and with him were the three members\nof the Deputation from the Friends\u2019 Foreign Mission Association, and\none of the Deputation from the Paris Missionary Society. A voyage of\nseven days, calling on the way at ports on the north-west and northern\ncoast of Madagascar, brought us to the Port of Tamatave, some 1,500\nmiles south of Zanzibar. From Tamatave we travelled by the splendidly\nengineered new French railway to Tananarive, a distance of 239\nmiles, passing on the way great lagoons near the sea coast, crossing\npicturesque rivers, traversing belts of beautiful forest, and rising\nby circular curves on the railway up the mountain side to the Central\nPlateau of Madagascar, some 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. As\nthe train neared the capital it was joined by various missionaries who\nhad come part way to meet us. At the terminus--a great modern station\nlit with arc lamps--nearly all the missionaries at work in the city\nand around it, and thousands of Malagasy Native Christians in their\nstraw hats and white lambas, met us, and gave us a great welcome.\n\n [Illustration: MAP OF MADAGASCAR, SHOWING L. M. S. STATIONS.\n\n Madagascar is nearly 1,000 miles in length. Its area exceeds that of\n France, Belgium and Holland put together, but its population is less\n than one-fourteenth of that of these countries. ]\n\nTananarive is built upon a very narrow lofty ridge in the middle of\nfar-spreading rice fields, bordered by ranges of hills and mountains.\nThe ridge, which rises rapidly from the north, runs due south, and is\ncrowned at its highest point by the Palace of the former kings and\nqueens of the Island, which can be seen from a great distance around.\nThe crest consists of a steeply-rising thoroughfare, from many points\nof which both horizons, east and west, can be seen. In the northern\nportion, known as Faravohitra, are several of the Society\u2019s mission\nhouses, and at the top is the Faravohitra Memorial Church. Continuing\nsouthward, and still rising for the greater part of the way, the\nBritish Consulate is passed on the right, and a short way beyond\nthis on the left is the massive building, now known as the Palais de\nJustice, which was formerly the L. M. S. Theological College. After\na slight depression the road winds steeply upwards, until, leaving\nthe Palace of the Prime Minister on the left, and catching sight\nof the Memorial Church of Ampamarinana on the right, we arrive at\nthe Queen\u2019s Palace. The ridge then falls and rises again until its\nsouthern extremity is reached at Ambohipotsy, where stand another of\nthe Memorial Churches and the present United Theological College of the\nL. M. S. and F. F. M. A., and some Mission houses. The view is one of\ngreat grandeur, especially looking to the west and to the south-west\ntowards the rugged ridges of the Ankaratra mountains. Looking\nnorthwards one sees the wooded slopes of Ambohimanga, the ancient\ncapital of Imerina, like a crouching lion dark against the distant\nhills. On the west, at the foot of the northern part of the ridge, is\nthe great Analakely market, which on Fridays is visited by thousands\nof people, and adjoining the market is our handsome Analakely Church,\nwhile beyond are the Residency, the railway station and the shops and\noffices of the modern French town. A little above this the spire of\nthe Ambatonakanga Memorial Church and the two large school buildings\nadjoining can be seen standing at the junction of two main roads, where\nthe traffic is at its busiest. One of the features of the landscape in\nTananarive is the large number of Church spires and towers which can be\nseen on the plains below. It is said that there are some 150 of them\nin sight, by far the greater number of them being now, or formerly,\nChurches connected with the London Missionary Society.\n\nWe had come to Madagascar from Central Africa, where missionary work\nwas in its earliest stages. In the \u201cgreat African Island\u201d the contrast\nwas very striking. There is only one brick Church in the Central Africa\nMission, the rest being wattle-and-daub. In Madagascar there are many\nhundreds of spacious well-built brick Churches, and some handsome stone\nones. In Central Africa the Church is in its infancy, and comprises\nless than 150 Church members. In Madagascar there are over 30,000\nChurch members, and nearly five times as many other native adherents.\nThe magnificent results which have followed the work of the Society\u2019s\nmissionaries, under the blessing of God, are everywhere apparent.\nWherever we went great crowds of Christian people gathered together to\nmeet us as the representatives of the L. M. S. The Churches were nearly\nalways full and often crowded to overflowing.\n\nThe congregations find great enjoyment in the singing of hymns, and\nvery large numbers read their Bibles, while Sunday School work is\nsplendidly organized. A considerable proportion of the Church members\ntake part in Christian work. There are more than seven times as many\nordained native agents at work in connection with the Society in\nMadagascar as in all the other Mission fields of the Society combined,\nexcept Polynesia. In addition, there are over 2,500 preachers, a number\nlargely in excess of the number of preachers in all the other fields of\nthe Society put together. Moreover, the number of Church members and of\nother native adherents in Madagascar connected with the Society is far\nmore than those in any other Mission field, and the same remark applies\nto the number of Sunday Schools and Sunday School scholars.\n\nOne cannot fail to be much impressed by the great capacity of the\nNative leaders of the Christian Church in Madagascar. It would be\ndifficult to find a more capable set of men in any Mission field. They\nare doing splendid work, and if this \u201capostolic succession\u201d can be\nmaintained, the Malagasy Church of the coming days will not lack for\ncompetent native leadership.\n\nMoreover, as the work of our Missionaries in Madagascar is examined,\nit becomes clear that the Mission is admirably organized. The men and\nwomen who have served the Society in Madagascar in the past have,\nunder the guidance of God, laid the foundations of the work wisely and\nwell. Their successors are worthy of their great heritage. It was a\ncause for rejoicing to find that the Native Church built upon those\nfoundations is a strong and living Church--full of promise for the\nfuture. If the present Missionary work can be continued, and possibly\nslightly increased, for a few more years, there is every reason to\nhope that the Native Church will, in the not distant future, become a\nself-supporting, self-governing, as it is already, to a limited extent,\na self-propagating Church, and strong enough to carry on its own work\nof evangelizing the whole island.\n\nThis growing Native Church is largely composed of Hovas, the\nmost advanced tribe among the Malagasy, and is to a great extent\nconcentrated in the Central Province of Imerina round Tananarive. This\nis not an accident. It is believed that the best way to bring about the\ncoming of the Kingdom in the Island is to build up a strong Church in\nthe centre. As that Church increases in numbers and in spiritual power\nit will be able to extend its own Missionary efforts, which are already\nnot inconsiderable, and to dispense, as time goes on, with the help of\nthe white Missionary to an ever-increasing degree, thus freeing him for\nany work that remains to be done in the outlying parts, and ultimately\nmaking it possible for him to withdraw altogether--having finished\nhis work. To weaken our efforts at the present time would be to delay\nand imperil this consummation. To maintain them will be the surest\nand most speedy way of hastening on the day when the Missionary force\ncan be withdrawn and the Native Church left to bring each successive\ngeneration into the Kingdom.\n\nThere were many indications that the Native Church is itself steadily\nkeeping in view this ideal. I may quote a paragraph from the\ntranslation of an Address presented to us by the Pastors of the Commune\nof Tananarive the day after our arrival:\n\n \u201cWe want you to know that we earnestly desire our Churches to become\n independent, i.e. self-supporting. It is natural for young people to\n want to set up housekeeping for themselves, and it is the same with\n the Church. The near approach of the hundredth anniversary of the\n arrival of Missionaries amongst us makes our hearts all aglow with the\n desire for the independence of our Churches. There is no day which we\n should more like to see than that on which we shall go with the last\n Missionary to the railway station. On that day we shall overflow with\n joy and sorrow, and our laughter will mingle with our tears.\u201d\n\nThe inner circle of Churches in Imerina is associated with seven\nChurches in the capital known as \u201cthe Mother Churches.\u201d Four of\nthese are the Memorial Churches erected in the years following the\nre-opening of the Mission in 1862, after the twenty-five years of\nthe great persecution. The oldest and most famous is the Church of\nAmbatonakanga, which was opened in 1867. It is the Mother Church of all\nMadagascar. On its site the Bible was first printed in Malagasy in the\nthirties of the nineteenth century, here the first converts made their\npublic profession of Christianity, and here stood one of the two first\nplaces of Christian worship in the Island. The simple chapel erected in\n1831 was afterwards turned into a gaol during the persecution, and here\nmany Christians suffered imprisonment. Adjoining it is the grave-yard,\nwhere rest the remains of several British missionaries who have given\ntheir lives to the service of Christ in Madagascar. This Church, which\nhas long been self-supporting, has associated with it twenty-seven\ncountry Churches, and for some years has been under the pastoral care\nof the Rev. William Evans, one of the noble succession of Welshmen who\nhave done so much to advance the coming of the Kingdom in the Island.\n\nMr. Evans has also charge of the Martyr Memorial Church of\nAmpamarinana--\u201cthe place of Hurling\u201d--which is situated on the\nsouth-west of the ridge on which the city is built. To the west of\nthe Church is the top of a rocky precipice, where in earlier years\nsorcerers were executed by being hurled down the cliff to the plain,\n400 feet below. During the persecution, as Christians were supposed to\npossess some powerful charms enabling them to defy their persecutors,\nfourteen of the noble army of martyrs were in 1849 thus put to death.\nThe present Native pastor of the Church is Andriamifidy, who was\nat one time Foreign Secretary in the old Malagasy Government, and\nfrom this Church several of the present leading Native Pastors have\ncome. Associated with it in the district to the west of the city are\ntwenty-seven country Churches.\n\nThe third Martyr Memorial Church is that of Ambohipotsy, situated in\na commanding position at the extreme south of the city ridge with\na magnificent view on all sides. This beautiful stone building was\nerected to commemorate the first Christian martyrdom--that of the brave\nChristian woman Rasalama, who was speared to death near the spot in\n1837, in a place where other Christians subsequently met their doom\nin like fashion. The work of this Church and district, comprising\nsome forty-six country outstations to the south of the city, is now\nsuperintended by Mrs. Thorne, who is bravely and successfully carrying\non the work of her late husband.\n\nThe fourth Memorial Church is that of Faravohitra, erected on the\nnorthern ridge of the capital by the contributions of the children of\nGreat Britain to commemorate the burning alive of four martyrs in 1849.\nThe work at Faravohitra and in its extensive district to the north,\ncomprising fifty country Churches, is under the charge of the Rev.\nRobert Griffith, another of the Welsh missionaries who have devoted\nthemselves to the service of Christ in Madagascar.\n\nNot far from Ambatonakanga, at the western foot of the ridge, is\nthe spacious Church of Amparibe, built of brick and stone. This is\nthe third Church on the same site. The work there and amongst the\ntwenty-four country Churches lying to the north-west of the capital,\nhas during the last two years been under the care of the Rev. F. W.\nDennis.\n\nThe sixth Mother Church is that of Analakely, a short distance to the\nnorth of Ambatonakanga, and adjoining the great market place. This\nChurch also is the third building erected on the present site. It was\nopened in 1895, a few months before the French occupation, the ex-Queen\nRanavalona III. and her Court being present on the occasion. For thirty\nyears the veteran Missionary, Dr. Sibree, has been the missionary\nin charge, and has superintended the work there and at the fourteen\ncountry churches connected with it.\n\nThe remaining Mother Church is that of Isotry, another large building\nin the populous western district of the capital. It is only recently\nthat the Church at Isotry has been reckoned as one of the Mother\nChurches of the capital. Mr. Stowell Ashwell has had charge of the work\nthere for some years.\n\nThe Institutional work of the Imerina Mission is centred in Tananarive.\nOf these Institutions the most important is the United Theological\nCollege, where pastors and evangelists for the work of the Mission\nreceive their training. For upwards of forty years the L. M. S.\nTheological College in Tananarive has rendered great service by\npreparing hundreds of young men for their work as evangelists and\npastors. After the French conquest the conspicuous College building\non the northern part of the ridge was appropriated by the French\nGovernment and, as already mentioned, converted into Law Courts. The\nwork of the College was removed to a smaller building a little further\nto the north, adjoining the Faravohitra Church. In 1910 a union in\nTheological training was entered into with the F. F. M. A., and the\nCollege was removed to a large house at Ambohipotsy and became a\nresidential Institution. A notable feature of the present work is the\ntraining of the students\u2019 wives.\n\nA number of cottages, named after Missionary Tutors of past days, have\nbeen erected on land adjoining the College, and this department has\nbeen superintended with great energy and devotion by Mrs. Sharman, the\nwife of the present Principal, the Rev. James Sharman. The College\ncourse extends over four years. Upon the staff are missionaries of\nboth Societies and four competent Native teachers, Pastors Rabary,\nRabetageka, Rakotovao, and Ravelo. The College at present contains\nthirty-two students, and is doing a great work in making more adequate\nprovision for a well-trained and consecrated native ministry. In a\nvery true sense the College is the key to the missionary situation in\nImerina. If the Native Church is to maintain and extend its position,\nit is necessary that a constant succession of well-educated and devoted\nChristian men should go forth from the College to act as pastors of the\nChurches and to be the leaders of the people in all their Christian\nactivities.\n\nReference has already been made to the two conspicuous buildings in\nthe centre of the city, adjoining the Ambatonakanga Memorial Church,\nin which are carried on the Boys\u2019 High School and a Girls\u2019 School.\nAfter the French occupation, Mr. Sharman started the Boys\u2019 School in\n1897. It grew rapidly, and the present building was erected and opened\nin 1901 by Governor-General Galieni, when there were 500 pupils on\nthe books. This number increased to 720, but was subsequently reduced\nto 530 owing to Government regulations. It is at present conducted by\nour Missionary, M. Henri Noyer, with the help of a staff of Malagasy\nAssistant Masters. The average attendance at the School is 91 per cent.\nof the number upon the books. In addition to the ordinary curriculum of\na school of this character, which directs great attention to the French\nlanguage, there are industrial departments for carpentry, woodwork, and\nmetal work in which a high standard of efficiency is reached.\n\nAdjoining the Boys\u2019 High School is the Girls\u2019 School, founded by Dr.\nT. T. Matthews, where for many years some of the brightest girls from\nthe Churches of Imerina have received a good education. The Missionary\nin charge of it is Miss Ysabel Du Commun, who, however, at the time\nof our visit, was absent on furlough, Miss Craven taking her place as\nSuperintendent. The Government regulations only allow 230 girls in\nthe School, although there is ample accommodation for a much larger\nnumber, and there are many girls now waiting admission when there are\nvacancies. There are seven classes, with three men and four women\nteachers and two sewing mistresses. In addition to the ordinary\ncurriculum for such a School, training is given in hygiene, cookery,\ndressmaking and fancy work.\n\nIn another part of the town, at Andohalo, stands the Girls\u2019 Central\nSchool, where for upwards of forty years a fine educational work has\nbeen carried on. There are now 400 girls on the books, and many more\nare waiting for admission. The average attendance is 380. Amongst the\nspecial subjects taught in the School are straw-plaiting, hatmaking,\nlacemaking, first-aid and ambulance work. The staff consists of Miss\nElsie Sibree, the devoted head-mistress, two masters and eight women\nteachers. The French Government regulations do not at present admit\nof the employment of women teachers, except those who were appointed\nbefore the present rules came into force. The present buildings,\nwhich were erected twenty years ago, comprise a large and lofty\ncentral hall, with a spacious gallery and six class-rooms. The sight\nof the crowded school at morning prayers is a most impressive one.\nThe girls, bare-footed, dressed in their white lambas, with \u201cshining\nmorning face,\u201d and with that happy, placid expression, which is so\ncharacteristic of the Christian girls and women of Madagascar, file\ninto the central hall and take their places with order and reverence\nand join with heartiness and devotion in the singing and in the\nprayers. It is a very rare thing for more than one or two to be late.\nThe tone of the school is of the highest, and the head-mistress always\nstrives, by prayer-meetings for the staff and in many other ways, to\nimpress the teachers with the missionary character of their work.\n\n [Illustration: MALAGASY GIRLS AT MISS CRAVEN\u2019S GIRLS\u2019 HOME.]\n\nAnother branch of the work amongst girls is the Girls\u2019 Home,\nsuccessfully carried on by Miss Craven for twenty years. Here is a\nhome provided for the daughters of evangelists and pastors and other\nChristian workers who come to Tananarive for their education. The\ngirls attend the Central School and live in Miss Craven\u2019s house, where\nthey are taught domestic duties, lacemaking, embroidery, and other\nneedlework at very small expense to the Society. Thirty girls are in\nresidence, and there are always more waiting for admission. Miss Craven\ndescribes the work being carried on as follows:\n\n \u201cNow for a picture of the Home itself. There are one sitting and two\n bed rooms, all large and airy; the former has tables and benches, but,\n except for meals and preparation, the matted floor is just as much\n used. Books and small possessions are kept in covered baskets, one to\n each girl, and their clothes are in a cupboard or tin boxes. The girls\n sleep on mattresses laid on the floor, besides which there is no other\n furniture in the dormitories. They bring their own clothes, plates,\n spoons, mattresses and coverings, but as there is more ventilation\n than in their rooms at home, I keep a supply of blankets to lend to\n them when the nights are cold; an outside building provides kitchen,\n rice-house, bath-house, etc.\n\n \u201cThe days\u2019 occupations vary little; the girls are up at daylight,\n say 5.30 in the summer and 6.0 in winter, and, after a wash in the\n bath-house, come back to their household duties, sweeping and dusting\n their own rooms and some of ours, and preparing their breakfast of\n rice and milk, which is ready before seven o\u2019clock. After that all\n the household assembles for morning prayers, and then there is the\n bustle of final preparation for school before they form in line and\n march off, two by two, looking a clean, tidy, and intelligent family,\n of which we may well feel proud. They all go to the Girls\u2019 Central\n School, under the care of Miss Sibree, school hours being from 8 a.m.\n to 12.45 p.m. One hour every afternoon is given to school preparation,\n the remainder of the time being filled up with different kinds of\n needlework, while the little ones divide their time between work and\n play. One afternoon most of them are away at the C. E. weekly meeting\n at Analakely. The evening meal is ready at 6.30, we have prayers at\n 7 o\u2019clock, and then they say \u2018good-night,\u2019 and troop off to bed, a\n few of the elder ones staying a little longer to do more lessons, or\n finish some piece of needlework. Saturday brings a change of work,\n for most of the girls go to do their weekly washing, not getting home\n until about 3 p.m. After dinner they are busy until bedtime ironing\n their clothes and getting ready for Sunday.\n\n \u201cAt different times they have attended Faravohitra, Ampamarinana,\n Ambohipotsy, and Analakely Churches, and the Sunday Schools connected\n with them. Sunday evening is spent with me singing hymns, discussing\n Sunday School lessons and sermons, and other matters of interest.\n It is a happy time, and one to which we all look forward. The Sunday\n School has a great attraction for them, especially the yearly\n examination, for which they prepare several weeks beforehand, and from\n which they carry off some of the best prizes.\n\n \u201cQuarrels and troubles have not been frequent, and during the last two\n or three years have been increasingly rare. Severe discipline has been\n needed in very few cases, one being that of a girl who was sent away\n for continuing a clandestine correspondence; she has been carefully\n watched at home, and is turning out well. About three years ago we\n were very grieved when one, who had been with us for many years, took\n the law into her own hands and ran away to be married. We do not,\n however, give up hope that she will become a Christian woman and train\n her children well. The health of the girls has always been a great\n responsibility, and malarial fever has been very much more frequent\n during the latter half of the decade. We have not lost any by death,\n except one who died at home during holidays. We generally find that\n the girls improve in health while under our care, and we do not often\n need to call for the help of a doctor. Occasionally we have to regret\n that girls are removed by their parents while still young, but as a\n rule they remain with us until about to be married, or get married\n soon after leaving.\n\n \u201cAs to the spiritual results, we may speak with some confidence.\n Three have joined the Church, and one has been baptised on profession\n of faith while still in the Home, and others have become Church\n members soon after marriage. The Spirit of Christ is clearly working\n in the hearts and lives of many who are still with us. Of one dear\n girl, who died very happily after the birth of her first child, her\n husband said to me: \u2018I rejoice over the months we have lived together;\n she has done me good.\u2019\u201d\n\nAnother department of Institutional work is the L. M. S. Printing Press\nin Tananarive, which stands for much more than its name implies. It\nis true that a prosperous business in printing and book-binding is\ncarried on, seventy men being constantly employed. But the Printing\nPress is a kind of \u201cUniversal Provider,\u201d and anything, from a harmonium\nto a needle, can be purchased there. Under the able superintendence\nof Mr. Ashwell, a considerable annual profit is made. The magnitude\nof its operations is surprising. In the ten years ending in 1910,\n1,833,243 books and pamphlets were issued from the office, including\nover 40,000 Bibles, 60,000 New Testaments (printed in England), nearly\n350,000 lesson books, over 131,000 hymn books, and a large number of\ncommentaries and other religious works.\n\nNo sketch of the Institutional work in Tananarive would be complete\nwithout a reference to the Medical Mission, which for many years has\nbeen carried on jointly by the F. F. M. A. and the L. M. S., the doctor\nbeing a missionary of the former Society. For the last sixteen years\nDr. Moss has been the medical missionary in charge, and in his own\nperson illustrates the close union between the two Societies in this\nwork. He has been a missionary of the F. F. M. A., and is the son of\nan L. M. S. missionary, and his wife, a trained nurse, is the daughter\nof an L. M. S. missionary, the saintly Joseph Pearse. No department of\nmissionary work in the capital suffered more from the advent of the\nFrench than the Medical Mission. A fine commodious hospital, opened\nin 1891 by the ex-Queen, was appropriated by the French Government\nin 1896, and since then the hospital work has been on a much smaller\nscale, and in fact there was no hospital at all between 1897 and 1903,\nalthough a large out-patient work was carried on. In the latter year\na small Cottage Hospital was erected, round which the work has since\ncentred under the devoted superintendence of Dr. and Mrs. Moss.\n\nIn barest outline some account has been given of the Institutional work\nof the Imerina Mission, which is centred in Tananarive. In this work\nthe European missionary and the Native agent, working together side\nby side and in closest co-operation, are contributing to the building\nup of a strong Native Church, which in the future is to be God\u2019s\ninstrument in spreading the light into the dark places of the Island.\nThis Church is as \u201ca city set on a hill that cannot be hid.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII\n\n =Imerina Country Districts--\u201cFields White Unto Harvest\u201d=\n\n Say not the struggle naught availeth,\n The labour and the wounds are vain,\n The enemy faints not, nor faileth,\n And as things have been they remain.\n * * * * *\n\n For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,\n Seem here no painful inch to gain;\n Far back, through creeks, and inlets making,\n Comes, silent, flooding in the main.\n\n CLOUGH.\n\n\nIt was not until 1870 that the L. M. S. established its first country\nstation in Madagascar. In that year Dr. Sibree founded a residential\nstation at Ambohimanga, the ancient capital of the Hovas, and one of\nthe three towns in Madagascar which, until the French occupation, no\nEuropean was permitted to enter. Ambohimanga lies about eleven miles\nnorth of Tananarive, whence its wooded heights can be clearly seen.\n\nAt the top of the hill is the old royal palace, built for King\nAndrianampoinimerina, who reigned from 1788 to 1810, and was the first\nking who had any claim to be regarded as monarch of the whole Island.\nHe was the father of Radama I., who moved the capital to Tananarive.\nAfter its removal the old royal palace was visited by the sovereign at\nleast once a year. The building is at all sorts of levels, and there\nare great trees growing in most unexpected places. When the walls which\nsupported the wooden palace were last plastered the white of eggs was\nused to make the plaster, so as to give it a glazed appearance. It is\nsaid that millions of eggs were used in the process. At the very top of\nthe hill are some rocks, from which there is a most magnificent view\nnearly all round the horizon. On these rocks superstitious practices\nare still observed, indications of which were very apparent to us at\nthe time of our visit. To the north is a precipice, and at its foot\nrice fields stretch away into the distance to the hills and mountains\nwhich bound the horizon. The present Native Governor of the town is\nan old L. M. S. boy from Betsileo, trained by Mr. Rowlands. He showed\nto us with great pride a silver watch which his former missionary had\ngiven to him.\n\nAmbohimanga is reached by pousse-pousse (rickshaw), the journey\noccupying two hours. Its first three missionaries were Dr. Sibree,\nMr. Wills, and Mr. Peill, all of whom have had the honour of giving\nchildren to the Mission field in Madagascar and in other parts of\nthe world. The Ambohimanga Mission house must be the centre of happy\nmemories for missionaries now at work in China, India, and Samoa.\nThe contribution which the Madagascar missionaries have made to the\nSociety\u2019s staff, especially in China, is remarkable. Dr. Sibree has\ngiven a daughter to the Medical Mission at Hong Kong, and a son to the\nSouth Sea Mission, in addition to two daughters to the Madagascar\nMission. Mr. Wills was the father of a medical missionary carrying\non work in Central China, and another son is at work in India. Mr.\nPeill has given four sons to the North China Mission, three of them\nbeing doctors. A son of Mr. Peake\u2019s is also a medical missionary in\nNorth China. Mr. Rowlands has two sons and a daughter missionaries in\nChina. A daughter of Mr. Pearse is the wife of a medical missionary in\nNorth China; and a second daughter is the wife of a medical missionary\nin Madagascar. A son of Mr. Huckett was for a short time a medical\nmissionary in India. Three children of Mr. George Cousins have become\nmissionaries in China. And so the Apostolic succession is continued.\n\nSince Mr. Peill left Ambohimanga the Mission there has been in charge\nof two Welshmen, Mr. Griffith, and the present missionary, Mr. Owen\nJones, thus carrying on the tradition that Madagascar is pre-eminently\nthe Mission Field of the Welsh Churches.\n\nOn the occasion of the visit of the Deputation a great gathering was\nheld in the largest of the three L. M. S. Churches at Ambohimanga, all\noutside the city walls, on account of the old law, above referred to,\nexcluding Europeans from the town itself. Thirty-five Churches were\nrepresented in the crowded congregation from the Ambohimanga district\nwhich gathered together to meet us. There were all the indications of\na strong and growing Christian work, which was further evidenced by\nthe efficient school work, and the work amongst women which is being\ncarried on, and by the long and earnest discussion we had with the\nnative pastors and preachers.\n\nTwelve miles east of the capital is the country station of Isoavina,\nwhere for nearly forty years the Rev. P. G. Peake carried on his\nvigorous and varied missionary labours. The Mission house is\nbeautifully situated in the hills amidst fine trees planted by Mr.\nPeake in a beautiful garden, intersected by two perennial streams\nof water. There are school buildings, workshops, and a row of\ncottages bearing testimony to the work of this earnest missionary. He\nestablished an industrial school at the station and taught carpentry,\niron-work, tinsmith\u2019s work, and other industrial pursuits. The\nindustrial department was, however, suppressed by the French officials\nin 1896, but was afterwards resumed on a smaller scale in 1907. But\nperhaps the missionary activity by which Mr. Peake will be best\nremembered is the founding of the leper settlement at Imanankavaly, an\nhour\u2019s walk away from Isoavina, which has since grown to such large\nproportions under the French Government. Mr. Peake has himself told the\nstory of the genesis of this great work in the \u201cTen Years\u2019 Review.\u201d\n\nIn 1900 the French authorities purchased the Leper Settlement, and\nhave since carried on and developed the work there to an amazing\nextent. There are now 1,500 lepers in residence. The Settlement is\na large village, consisting for the most part of rows of detached\nhuts in which the lepers live, and is a model of cleanliness and\norder. I visited the Institution and was greatly impressed with what\nI saw. Nearly all the inmates bear the awful marks of leprosy upon\nthem. Many have bandages round their feet, legs and arms. Many have\nlost feet and hands and are horribly mutilated or deformed. Many have\nterribly distorted faces. Some hid themselves away as they saw visitors\napproaching. Others lay in the sunshine huddled up in dark blankets.\nMany, however, were able to work, and were engaged in building new huts\nor in agricultural pursuits. There were men and women, boys and girls,\na most pathetic multitude. Yet smiling faces were quite common as the\nlepers saluted us as we passed along between the rows of cottages. It\nwas Saturday, the weekly cleaning day, and all the meagre furniture,\npots and pans, were turned out of doors. The staple article of food is\nrice, of which over five tons a week are consumed. Twice a week meat is\nsupplied, and the Government also provide soap, candles and salt. The\nwhole Institution is a wonderful example of method and organization.\nBut the most remarkable fact in connection with the work is that it is\nentirely directed by a woman of sixty-five years of age, Mlle. Sapino.\nThis lady came to Madagascar some eighteen years ago as a missionary\nof the Paris Missionary Society. On severing her connection with that\nSociety she took up this work amongst the lepers. She controls the\nwhole of the Institution down to the minutest details. She superintends\nthe buildings. She buys all the stores, and I saw her weighing out\nthe rice for distribution to the Lepers. She examines every case\nas it comes in, and puts all the particulars down on a chart. She\npersonally dresses the wounds in the worst cases, and was engaged in\ndoing this Christ-like work when we arrived. For all her services she\nreceives the munificent stipend of \u00a380 per annum and a house. Out of\nthis at the present time she is keeping some forty untainted children\nof lepers born in the Institution. The Government will not make her\nany grant because these children are not lepers. Some months ago she\nsold her drawing-room furniture to get money to keep the children. She\nis a remarkable-looking woman--tall, with prominent features and iron\ngrey hair. She reminded me more than any other woman I ever saw of the\npictures of George Eliot. She told me that the Government respected\nher, but did not love her. They know she is indispensable. A week or\ntwo previous to my visit they sent her an unsatisfactory Frenchman\nto be an assistant. She objected and resigned. In a few hours a high\nofficial\u2019s wife came out to tell her that the Government would do\nanything she asked with regard to the Frenchman. She demanded his\nimmediate removal, and in twenty-four hours he was gone. She has no\nEuropean assistant, but seven untainted Malagasy, including a doctor.\nAll the rest of the work is done by lepers--except that the Government\nhave sent recently five Malagasy soldiers as a guard. I was told that\nMademoiselle always carries a loaded revolver about with her for fear\nof trouble. At the time of my visit she had no servant in her house,\nand did all her own cooking and housework. She is one of the most\nremarkable women I have ever met, and carries on a wonderful piece of\nwork. She is a strong Protestant. There is a school and a Protestant\nand Catholic Church in the Institution. The cost is very small--less\nthan 35s. per inmate per annum, which seems almost incredible.\n\nBut to return to Isoavina. During our visit a great united meeting of\nthe Isan-Efa-Bolana (four-monthly meeting) for the whole district was\nheld in the Church. The schools were inspected and interviews held\nwith the leading Christian workers. At this place, as at nearly every\nother place in Madagascar which we visited, presentations were made\nto us by the Native Christians in order to express their gratitude\nto the Society for sending us to visit them and their pleasure at\nseeing us. At various places we were the recipients of numberless\nturkeys, fowls and eggs. Offerings of other kinds of food were made,\nand we received more permanent reminders of our visit in the shape of\nlambas, walking sticks, lace, rafia work, embroideries, scarf pins,\nserviette rings, photographs, hats, addresses, etc. In their joy at\nseeing representatives of the Society in their midst it seemed that our\nfriends could not do enough to express their appreciation and gratitude.\n\nSome half-hour\u2019s walk from Isoavina, the \u201cRest-House,\u201d or Sanatorium\nbelonging to the Mission is situated at Ambatovory in the midst of\nlovely country commanding fine views. It is here that many of the\nImerina missionaries spend their hard-earned holidays.\n\nDuring my stay at Isoavina I paid a surprise Sunday morning visit to\na small outstation called Fararina. Every precaution was taken to\nconceal the fact that a visit was going to be made, so that the visitor\nmight have an opportunity of seeing a country outstation under normal\nconditions. The Church was a small and primitive wattle-and-daub\nbuilding, with a brick pulpit, covered with the commonest and most\ngaudy wallpaper. The earth floor was covered with matting. I was\ndelighted to find that the chapel was practically full. Afterwards\na Communion Service was held. The \u201cbread\u201d was nearly black. It was\nmade of manioc root and coarse black sugar almost like treacle. The\n\u201cwine\u201d was pine-apple juice. The cups and plates were tin painted red.\nAlthough the visit was a complete surprise, the people would not let me\ngo without making the customary gifts. As I descended the steep hill\nafter the service some of the Church members overtook me bringing a\nfowl, and as I reached the foot others came running after me with eggs.\n\nTen miles north-west of Tananarive is Ambohidratrimo, where the late\nMr. Baron lived for two years in the seventies. In 1901 Ambohidratrimo\nwas re-opened as a residential station under the care of the Rev. F.\nW. Dennis, and it is now in charge of the Rev. H. A. Ridgwell. In past\ndays it was the capital of one of the four small kingdoms into which\nthe present province of Imerina was divided, and it still retains\nmarks of its former importance. At the top of a lofty hill behind the\nMission house the royal village once stood, where a century ago the\nMalagasy king ruled over his petty kingdom. There are still several\nroyal tombs to be seen. Towards three-quarters of the horizon a great\nplain stretches out into the distance. In the middle of it towards\nthe south-east amidst the rice-fields is Tananarive. All around are\nmountains. The country looked like a gigantic relief map, and the view\nmust be similar to that to be seen from an aeroplane.\n\nAmbohidratrimo is reached by a two hours\u2019 ride in a pousse-pousse\nthrough rice fields and pine-apple gardens. In passing along the road\nI could see the women very busy in the rice fields, transplanting the\nyoung rice and working in water half up their legs. Pine-apples are\nvery plentiful in the district, and three large ones can be bought for\na penny. During our visit we attended two great meetings, one in the\nMission Church consisting only of men, representing some sixty-eight\nChurches in the district, while the other, for women only, was held at\nan outstation in a large village Church with very few seats. The Church\nwas crowded, most of the women being seated on the floor looking very\nclean, happy and bright in their white lambas. Many of them had walked\nfor several hours to attend the meeting. The wife of the evangelist\nmade an admirable president, and several women took part in the meeting.\n\nFourteen miles north-west of Ambohidratrimo is Vangaina, which became\nthe residence of a missionary in 1903. It is the centre of fifty\noutstations, which are superintended by the Vangaina missionary,\nthe Rev. Thomas Tester. The beautifully situated Mission house has\nbeen built on the hillside some distance off the main motor-car road\nfrom Tananarive to the Port of Majunga on the north-west coast. At\nthe station there is a Church and a school. A united meeting for the\nChurches of the district was held at the outstation, Ampanotokana, at\nwhich forty-four Churches were represented, crowding the building to\nits utmost capacity.\n\nOur journeys to these country stations afforded many opportunities of\nseeing various sides of native life. On the way to Vangaina we visited\nthe large native market at Mahitsy on market day. We went up and down\nbetween the stalls in the market place. The vendors must have numbered\nmany hundreds, and the people attending the market some thousands from\nall over the countryside. Amongst the articles for sale were straw hats\nand mats, spades and hatchets, great heaps of fine pineapples, sugar\ncane, pigs, cattle, rice, meat, great piles of a small kind of dried\nfish, salt, tinware, calico, black soap (like the soap our missionary,\nMr. Cameron, taught the natives to make eighty years ago), buttons,\nbiscuits, ducks, vegetables--all in the greatest profusion. Perhaps the\nmost interesting feature was the space set apart for the blacksmiths,\nwho were repairing spades, tinware, cart-wheels, etc., with the help\nof primitive forges. The blast was created by two upright cylinders\nof wood with pipes from the bottom of them to convey the wind to the\ncharcoal fire. The air was driven into these pipes by means of plates\nof wood, which were forced up and down the cylinders by poles attached\nto the upper surface and worked by men\u2019s hands. They formed very\neffective bellows.\n\nVangaina itself is a small village with two moats, each about twenty\nfeet deep, in which banana trees were growing. An interesting feature\nin the village is a great tree in which I saw three enormous nests\nof the crested-umber built in the forks of the tree and made of hay,\nstraw, grass, and twigs, each one being about six feet long by six\nfeet wide. The bird is about the size of the domestic fowl with longer\nwings, and is called the Taketra. It is a bird of ill-omen, and in the\nold days when the ex-Queen used to come out to Ambohimanga she would\nturn back again to Tananarive if one of these birds crossed her path.\nThe old Malagasy believe that these birds bring leprosy.\n\nThe most distant country station in Imerina from Tananarive is that of\nAnjozorobe, between sixty and seventy miles north-east of the Capital.\nOn the way one passes through the town of Ambohitrolomahitsy, for some\nyears the residential station for the district, at which the late\nRev. Percy Milledge, and after him the Rev. W. Kendal Gale, carried\non work. We attended three large meetings at this place. The journey\nthither to Anjozorobe led us over a range of mountains, one of which\nbears a Malagasy name meaning \u201cThe mountain which cannot be climbed.\u201d\nAnjozorobe, which is beautifully situated, became a residential station\nin 1910, when Mr. Gale moved there from Ambohitrolomahitsy. He and\nhis family live in a newly-erected Mission house bearing a Malagasy\nname, which being interpreted means \u201cThe house of sweet breezes,\u201d now\nquite familiar to readers of the Society\u2019s magazines. His missionary\ncolleague, Mrs. Milledge, formerly Miss May Sibree, lives some\ndistance away in the centre of the native village in a Malagasy house.\nAnjozorobe is the centre of a very extensive district, in which there\nare forty large outstations, and includes the northern part of the\nBezanozano country, the southern portion of which is connected with the\nIsoavina Station. It was not my privilege to visit the Bezanozano, but\none of my colleagues, Mr. Talbot Wilson, spent nine days in a tour in\nthis country.\n\nDuring our visit to Anjozorobe a large united meeting for the whole\ndistrict was held at the Church. Visits were also paid to some of the\nnearer outstations. The schools were inspected, and a gathering held\nfor the native workers. Much of Mr. Gale\u2019s time is spent away from\nhome, his itinerating work through a widespread district necessitating\nhis absence for many days at a time. Mrs. Milledge, too, spends much\nof her life travelling between outstations, living in native houses,\nand holding classes for women and girls in both the Anjozorobe and\nAmbohitrolomahitsy districts.\n\nThe journey back to the capital took us through Ankazandandy and\nAmbohibao, where crowded and enthusiastic meetings were held.\n\nBy the work of our missionaries at these country stations, and of\nhundreds of native pastors and preachers, the light is being spread\nthrough the central province of Imerina. Before the French occupation\nthe L. M. S. work was much more extensive than it is at present. It\nbecame necessary to hand over some of the work to the Paris Missionary\nSociety, whose missionaries, with those of the F. F. M. A. and the\nS. P. G. and their native workers, have now for many years past been\nengaged in passing on the light from place to place. The Church is\nsteadily growing and extending into the dark places beyond.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII\n\n =Betsileo--\u201cThe Sombre Fringes of the Night\u201d=\n\n The glad Dawn sets his fires upon the hills,\n Then floods the valley with his golden light,\n And, triumphing o\u2019er all the hosts of night,\n The waiting world with new-born rapture fills.\n\n L. C. MOULTON.\n\n\nThe scene now changes to the province of Betsileo, in the south of the\nIsland, where the work is carried on amongst a backward people, whose\nterritory abuts upon the districts occupied by tribes more benighted\nstill--the Sakalava, the Bara, and the Tanala.\n\nUntil quite recently the work in Betsileo was separated from the work\nin Imerina by a journey in a filanjana (palanquin) occupying from\neight to ten days. Now the 264 miles which separate Tananarive from\nFianarantsoa are covered in two days in comfortable automobiles, along\na magnificent road which has been constructed by the French. For almost\nthe whole of the distance the country is very hilly, the road rising to\n4,500 feet above the sea level, and being carried over mountains in a\ncontinuous series of curves with easy gradients.\n\nWe were travelling in the middle of the Malagasy winter. The mornings\nwere cold and misty, but before long the sun broke out and we enjoyed\na changing panorama of hill and mountain, waterfall and river, and\nfar-spreading distant views. Peaks sixty miles away appeared to be\nquite near. Time after time the road traversed amphitheatres in the\nmountains, and I was often reminded of stretches of country in the\nprovince of Hunan in Central China.\n\nFianarantsoa is the capital of the Betsileo province, the inhabitants\nof which are a curly-haired, dark-skinned people of a somewhat low\ntype, except in the large towns where most of the population is Hova.\nWork is also carried on at outstations amongst the Bara and Tanala\ntribes in the south. The L. M. S. first sent resident missionaries to\nsettle in Betsileo in 1870, and the Paris Missionary Society and the\nNorwegian Society are also at work there.\n\nFianarantsoa is picturesquely situated in a mountainous region. It\nstands considerably higher than the top of Snowdon, and commands a\nwonderful view on all sides--of mountains and moorland, forest and\nriver in infinite variety. During our visit, in the early mornings\ngreat seas of mist lay in the valleys, but later in the day the whole\nlandscape was flooded with brilliant sunshine.\n\nThe work in the Capital itself and at seventy-four outstations is\nin charge of Mr. Huckett and Mr. Johnson, who have borne the burden\nand heat of the day for upwards of thirty years, while Miss Hare has\nbeen in charge of the Girls\u2019 School for the last seventeen years. The\nMission Compound is extensive and contains the Girls\u2019 School, three\nMission houses, the Theological College, which was once a hospital,\nand cottage accommodation for the students at work in the College and\nthe boys from the L. M. S. country stations attending the Boys\u2019 School\nof the Paris Missionary Society. In Fianarantsoa there were all the\nevidences of extensive missionary activities and of a successful work.\nThe numerous meetings that were held during our visit were crowded.\nDuring our stay the annual gatherings of the Betsileo Isan-Kerin-Taona\n(yearly meeting) were held.\n\nThey were the first gatherings of the kind at which I had been present\nin Madagascar. As I attended meeting after meeting the impression made\nupon me as a visitor was that of \u201cfields white unto harvest.\u201d To my\nunaccustomed eyes the white lambas, which seemed to fill the Churches,\nsuggested the white fields referred to in the Gospels. And then came\nthe thought which gave rise to glad thanksgiving, that in Madagascar\nthe harvest indeed had been plenteous, though the labourers had been\nfew. Then came a vision of the great harvest-home when from the north\nand south, the east and west of this island men and women, boys and\ngirls would all be gathered into the Kingdom, and those who sowed and\nthose who reaped would rejoice together.\n\nThree meetings stand out in my memory. On the Wednesday there was\na representative gathering of the delegates from the L. M. S. and\nP. M. S. Churches in Antranobiriky Church. M. Couve, of the Paris\nSociety, addressed some burning words to the delegates, which went to\ntheir hearts. I spoke of the United Malagasy Church of the future,\nand rejoiced to find so hearty a response to the idea of union. Next\nday at the Assembly M. Couve spoke with great earnestness on the\nduty of self-support, and Mr. Houghton gave an eloquent address on\nself-government.\n\nThe third meeting was a memorable one. It was a united Communion\nService held on Thursday afternoon in the Church of the French\nProtestant Mission. The spacious church was crowded to its utmost\nlimits. The aisles and stairs were thronged with devout worshippers.\nA native pastor conducted the service. Missionaries and evangelists,\npastors and preachers joined with some 800 Christians and the\nDeputations from the two societies round the table of our Lord. Men\nand women, brown and white, were all as one in that sacred service of\ncommemoration and consecration. The solemnity of the gathering was\nemphasised by the thunderstorm which broke over the town while the\nservice was proceeding. The church became dark. The wind howled. The\nlightning flashed. The thunder rolled. The rain fell. And then came the\nbrilliant sunshine--a prophetic vision of the history of the Church\nof Christ in Madagascar. Persecution, trouble, and anxiety have beset\nthat Church in the past. Even now there are clouds upon the horizon.\nBut the day is surely coming when the glorious shining of the Sun of\nRighteousness will flood this great island with light and love, and all\nwho live in it \u201cshall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and ...\nas the stars for ever and ever.\u201d\n\nMr. Huckett has long carried on a fine piece of work in the\nTheological Seminary. Here pastors and evangelists receive a three\nyears\u2019 course of training, and there is a two years\u2019 course for\ncatechists and itinerating preachers. Mr. Huckett also superintends\nthe boys and youths from the country mission stations, who come up to\nFianarantsoa to complete their education, living in the cottages above\nreferred to, which are supported by the Glasgow Foundry Boys\u2019 Religious\nAssociation. Another branch of Mr. Huckett\u2019s manifold labours is the\nsecretaryship of the local agency of the British and Foreign Bible\nSociety. From the Bible and Book Room in the Compound the Scriptures\nare distributed to the whole of the South of Madagascar, and five\ncolporteurs are at work.\n\nAt the Girls\u2019 High School, conducted by Miss Hare, there are one\nhundred girls on the books, of whom on the occasion of our visit\nninety-six were present. There is ample accommodation for more\nscholars, but the Government regulations prevent it being utilised.\nSome of the girls at the school come from the country stations and\nlive in the Mission house with Miss Hare. It would be a very great\nhelp to the work if a Boarding Home for Girls could be established\nin Fianarantsoa. In addition to her duties in the School, Miss Hare\nalso has the oversight of the wives of the students at the Theological\nSeminary. The Paris Mission carries on the Boys\u2019 High School and a\nNormal School, to which the L. M. S. students go.\n\nAbout an hour\u2019s journey from Fianarantsoa another fine example of\nmissionary activity is to be seen at the Leper Home, at a place\npathetically called \u201cThe Village of Hope.\u201d This work was started by\nMrs. Huckett twenty years ago. My visit was a sad experience, and will\nbe an abiding memory. No leper who enters this home, in which there are\nforty-three inmates, ever comes out again. The sufferers die, and are\nburied in the grounds. My thoughts naturally carried me back to Dr.\nFowler\u2019s Leper Home in Central China at Siao Kan. \u201cThe Village of Hope\u201d\nmight well be called the \u201cVillage of Despair,\u201d for maimed and missing\nhands and feet told their tale only too plainly, and pitiable sores on\nthe legs and face were common. But without exception all the patients\nseemed bright and happy, and one could not doubt the joy that had come\ninto the lives of the poor afflicted creatures, thirty-three of whom\nwere Church members, while others were enquirers. We visited the rooms\nin which they live, and afterwards attended a pathetic and yet happy\nmeeting in the Chapel at which we all spoke. The lepers were genuinely\nglad to see us and gave us a hearty welcome. After we left we could see\nthe whole community, standing in their white lambas just outside the\ngate on the top of the hill, waving farewells to us for fully half an\nhour.\n\nThirty-two miles south of Fianarantsoa is the growing Government\ntown of Ambalavao, which is reached by pousse-pousse along another\nwell-engineered road through the mountains. As we approached the town\nwe were met by streams of natives, many gaily decorated, returning\nfrom the annual three days\u2019 fair. For many years Ambalavao was worked\nfrom Ambohimandroso, but it has been a residential station since 1903\nunder the care of the Rev. D. M. Rees, whose untiring efforts are\nably seconded by those of his wife, who has the great advantage of an\nexcellent knowledge of French. The Mission house is an old Malagasy\nresidence which has been enlarged. The Station Church is one of the\nmost handsome and best built churches in Madagascar. On the occasion\nof our visit it was crowded to its utmost capacity by a gathering\nrepresenting the forty-four outstations in the district.\n\nSix miles south of Ambalavao is situated Ambohimandroso, the most\nsoutherly station of the L. M. S., where the Rev. Thomas and Mrs.\nRowlands (who, like Mr. and Mrs. Rees, keep up the connection between\nWales and Madagascar) have faithfully carried on work for the last\nthirty-four years. At the bottom of the valley between the two stations\nis a river which is crossed by a ferry, where I was met by a crowd\nof school children who escorted me up the steep hill to the Mission\nhouse, the boys assisting in propelling the pousse-pousse. Here again a\ncrowded and enthusiastic united meeting was held, with representatives\nfrom most of the fifty-one out-stations connected with this Mission.\nSchools were inspected, visits paid to some of the Native workers,\nand other gatherings held. Mr. and Mrs. Rowlands find house-room for\na dozen girls from country districts who are attending school. Each\nevening these girls file into the drawing-room for singing and prayer.\nOn the occasion of my visit they sang \u201cNearer my God to Thee\u201d in\nEnglish. Then followed their salutation, \u201cGood-night, Mr. Hawkins,\u201d\nwith a curtsey. I replied, \u201cGood-night, girls; God bless you.\u201d Then\ncame their answer, \u201cThank you, Mr. Hawkins.\u201d The same formula is gone\nthrough with \u201cMadame\u201d and \u201cSir.\u201d\n\nThe morning I left, the girls were up early to see me off, and stood in\na row alongside the filanjana. In a frivolous moment as I was leaving\nI pretended to weep to express my sorrow at parting from them, and\noff I went. Mrs. Rowlands told me a week or two afterwards that at\nmy departure all the girls had burst into tears and cried bitterly,\nsaying, \u201cWhat a tender-hearted gentleman to cry when he leaves us. He\nmust be thinking of his own daughter in England who has dark hair and\ndark eyes like us!\u201d\n\nFrom Ambohimandroso I proceeded to the Society\u2019s newest station\nin Betsileo at Alakamisy Itenina, where since 1905 the Rev. D. D.\nGreen, another Welshman, has resided and superintended the work of\nthe thirty-seven outstations, of which this place is the centre. The\njourney occupied all day, and the road lay amongst the mountains,\nthe views of the hills and clouds being magnificent. Several crowded\nmeetings were held at the station and at outstations. At one place the\ncrowd that had gathered together was three times as large as the Church\ncould contain, and the meeting was held in the open-air, in defiance, I\nam afraid, of the French law. I stood under the shadow of the Church.\nIn the immediate foreground was the great congregation, some on the\nseats which had been taken out of the Church, and some on the ground--a\nvery picturesque crowd in white and gaily-coloured lambas. Beyond the\nworshippers stretched a glorious vista of mountain and valley, rolling\naway into \u201cthe purple distance fair,\u201d with the brilliant sunshine\nbathing all in a flood of golden light.\n\nThe only residential station in Madagascar which I was unable to visit\nwas that at Ambohimahasoa, a town of growing importance, where the Rev.\nCharles Collins has laboured for the last eleven years, superintending\nfrom that centre thirty-eight outstations. Both my colleagues, however,\nwere able to visit it, and attended a large number of meetings there.\n\nThe Society\u2019s work in Betsileo is well organised, and has been carried\non for the last forty-three years with great and growing success. From\nthe centre at Fianarantsoa, over a wide-spreading district comprising\n244 outstations, the Gospel has been faithfully preached, schools\nhave been conducted, Christian Endeavour Societies, Dorcas meetings,\nand many other missionary activities have been carried on, and this\nmanifold work has been accomplished by means of a small European staff\nwhich has never exceeded ten missionaries. Their efforts have been\nseconded by a native staff of about fifty ordained pastors and 500\npreachers. The Church is a growing one, but much yet remains to be done\nto complete the evangelization of the large territory in which the\nSociety is at work. Beyond to the south, as already mentioned, are the\nunevangelized tribes of the Bara and Tanala districts, amongst whom up\nto the present very little work has been done. But the future is rich\nwith promise, and if the existing work can be maintained and somewhat\nextended, the Society will have a rich reward in building up a Native\nChurch so strong and so missionary, that before many years have passed\nit will be able to carry the light into the dark places around.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IX\n\n =Glad and Golden Days=\n\n Spread the Light! Spread the Light!\n Till earth\u2019s remotest bounds have heard\n The glory of the Living Word;\n Till those that see not have their sight;\n Till all the fringes of the night\n Are lifted, and the long-closed doors\n Are wide for ever to the Light.\n Spread the Light!\n * * * * *\n\n O then shall dawn the golden days,\n To which true hearts are pressing;\n When earth\u2019s discordant strains shall blend--\n The one true God confessing;\n When Christly thought and Christly deed\n Shall bind each heart and nation,\n In one Grand Brotherhood of Men,\n And one high consecration.\n\n JOHN OXENHAM.\n\n\nAfter our return from Betsileo and our visitation of the Imerina\ncountry stations, we spent three weeks in Tananarive to meet with the\nmissionaries in their District Committee, in order to consult together\nas to the present position and future work. We also took part in a\nConference with the representatives of all the Protestant Missionary\nSocieties at work in the island, and attended the great half-yearly\nmeeting of the native Christians known as the Isan-Enim-Bolana. It\nis not the purpose of this record of travel to discuss questions\nof missionary politics, or to deal with matters considered at the\nJoint Conference. Suffice it to say that the intercourse with the\nmissionaries of our own and other Societies during those closing weeks\nof our stay was a time of happy fellowship. In the interludes between\nmore serious work delightful social receptions and garden parties were\norganised by several of the Missions, and we enjoyed the hospitality of\nthe Bishop of Madagascar and of our French and Norwegian friends.\n\nThere was one gathering, however, of very special interest to us, as\nrepresentatives of the L. M. S. On September 30th it was our privilege\nto take part in the celebration of the jubilee of the landing at\nTamatave of our honoured veteran missionary, Dr. James Sibree. Mr.\nSibree, as he was then, went out to Madagascar as architect of the\nMemorial Churches to be erected in Tananarive in commemoration of the\nmartyrs \u201cfaithful unto death,\u201d who lost their lives during the time\nof persecution. These Churches remain until this day, not only as\nmemorials to the martyrs, but as monuments to the taste and skill of\nMr. Sibree as an architect. But his services in this direction have not\nbeen confined to the Memorial Churches. In after years to the present\ntime he has prepared the plans of upwards of 40 Churches in different\nparts of Madagascar.\n\nBut Dr. Sibree will leave behind him, when the time comes for him to\nbid farewell to Madagascar, a more enduring memorial than churches\nof brick and stone. When he had completed the task which originally\ntook him to the island he returned to England, and, after taking\nhis theological course at Spring Hill, went back to Madagascar as a\nclerical missionary, and from that day to this, with ceaseless energy\nand devotion, he has been engaged in building the Invisible Church, \u201ca\nhouse not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.\u201d\n\nThe epitaph upon the tomb of another architect, Sir Christopher Wren,\nin St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral, \u201cSi monumentum requiris circumspice,\u201d is\nequally applicable to Dr. Sibree, for no missionary has left behind\nhim in Madagascar a more enduring memorial of his life and work than\nwill Dr. Sibree. His energies, too, have found an outlet in other\ndirections. His most conspicuous service to the Mission has been\nrendered in connection with the training of preachers and pastors.\nFor upwards of thirty years he has been associated with the Society\u2019s\nTheological College in Tananarive, and during that period several\nhundred students have received the benefit of his instruction and\ninfluence. As a writer of books and articles he has given to the world\nmuch information, not only with regard to Madagascar, but also with\nregard to the Cathedrals of the Homeland. The articles on Madagascar\nin the last two editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica have come from\nhis pen, and he is a recognised authority on all matters relating to\nthe island. He has rendered invaluable service as a translator, and\nespecially in the revision of the Malagasy Scriptures. He does not know\nwhat it is to be idle. In his seventy-seventh year he is an example\nand a rebuke to men of half his age; from early morning until late at\nnight he is always at work.\n\nDr. Sibree has, throughout his missionary life, been ably seconded\nand supported in all his \u201cworks of faith and labours of love\u201d by his\ndevoted wife, to whom the women and girls of Ambohimanga, and, in later\nyears, of Tananarive, owe so much. As I have already mentioned, Dr. and\nMrs. Sibree have given four children to missionary work. Two of their\ndaughters, Mrs. Milledge and Miss Elsie Sibree are to-day rendering\nfine service to the kingdom in Madagascar.\n\nOn the Jubilee day a great gathering of missionaries was held\nin Faravohitra Church in honour of Dr. and Mrs. Sibree. Several\npresentations were made to them from the Directors of our Society, from\ntheir fellow missionaries and from the missionaries of other Societies,\nin recognition of the services they have rendered, and of the respect,\nesteem and affection in which they are held. It is said that never\nbefore in the history of Madagascar has such a large gathering of\nmissionaries taken place. Later in the same day a reception and garden\nparty were held, at which even a larger number of the missionary\ncommunity were present to celebrate the occasion. A few days afterwards\na great gathering of past and present students of the Theological\nCollege met to offer their tribute of gratitude and esteem to the\nmissionary who had trained so many of the preachers, pastors, and\nevangelists, now engaged in the evangelization of the island.\n\n[Illustration: DR. AND MRS. SIBREE.]\n\nOnly a passing reference can be made to the meetings of the Joint\nConference. This gathering was unique, for it is believed that never\nbefore in the history of the Christian Church have all the Protestant\nMissionary Societies at work in a mission field appointed simultaneous\ndeputations to unite with the missionaries on the spot to study in\ncommon the problems and needs of the field, and to plan together\nfor its evangelization. Many matters of common interest to all the\nSocieties were considered, and important discussions were held with\nthe Malagasy Christian leaders. The subjects of the evangelization of\nthe island, the work of delimitation, education, the social and moral\ncondition of the people, the recrudescence of heathenism, the growth\nof atheism and agnosticism, and many other questions vitally affecting\nthe life of the people and the growth of the Church came up for\ndiscussion. The meetings were held in the beautiful French Protestant\nChurch in Tananarive in the early days of October. The tone and spirit\nwhich prevailed throughout the deliberations were of the highest. The\nConference owed much to its Chairman, M. le Pasteur Couve, who presided\nthroughout with wisdom, tact, patience and good humour. The holding\nof such a Conference in which High Anglican, Lutheran, Quaker and\nCongregationalist, British, French, Norwegian, and American took an\nequal part, was a remarkable evidence of the growth of the spirit of\ncomity and co-operation in the mission field.\n\nBut amongst the many vivid experiences of those crowded closing days\nin Tananarive, the most lasting impression was that made by the great\nmeetings of the Isan-Enim-Bolana. This institution is a federation\nof the Imerina Churches of the L. M. S., F. F. M. A., and P. M. S.,\nand it holds a warm place in the regard and affection of the Malagasy\nChristians. Moreover, it is a Missionary Society and sends its own\nnative missionaries into the outlying districts in the North where,\nbut for its efforts, there would be no Christian work carried on. It\nis the child of the London Missionary Society, and came into being in\nthe year 1868. Since then it has met every half-year in the Capital,\nand its gatherings are always marked with a spirit of great earnestness\nand enthusiasm. It met in October, and high as our expectations\nwere from what we had heard, the gatherings surpassed all that our\nimagination had pictured. On Wednesday afternoon, October 8th, five\npreaching services were held at the same hour in five of the largest\nChurches in the Capital, and these were followed by two great meetings\nin connection with the Christian Endeavour Societies. Perhaps a short\naccount of my own experiences at the Isan-Enim-Bolana, which were\nsimilar to those of my fellow-delegates, will convey some impression\nof the character of these Meetings. I was taking lunch with a party\nof French Missionaries, when M. Pierre de Seynes came to tell me that\nthe French Church in which I was to speak was already crowded to its\nutmost limits, although it was nearly two hours before the time for\nthe commencement of the service. On reaching the Church an hour and\na half later I had the greatest difficulty in effecting an entrance.\nThere was a dense crowd round the door of those who could not find\nroom. It required great care to walk up the aisle without treading\nupon the women, who were sitting on the ground two abreast. The great\ncongregation occupied every foot of available space; the floor of the\nchancel was packed, and men were sitting on the communion rails, on the\ntop of the harmonium, and on the pulpit steps. Moreover, there were\ngroups of people round the numerous open windows on the ground floor,\nand the gallery and the steps leading to it were likewise crowded. The\nscene from the pulpit can never be forgotten. The contrast between the\nblack hair, brown faces and white lambas of the worshippers formed a\nstriking picture. Pastor Rabary, the Chairman of the Isan-Enim-Bolana,\ntranslated for me. The vigorous action and fine declamation of the\ninterpreter, combined with the inspiration which one receives from the\nenthusiasm and devoutness of a great audience, had their effect upon\nthe quieter methods of the more phlegmatic Englishman, and I found\nmyself moved to speak with a force and earnestness rarely experienced\nbefore. My address was followed by what I am told was an eloquent\nsermon by one of the ablest of the younger Malagasy leaders, Pastor\nRakotonirainy, who is also a successful master in one of the F. F. M.\nA. Schools. As soon as the service was over the congregation hurried\naway to a great Christian Endeavour meeting at Ampamarinana, where\nthe Church was already packed. An overflow meeting was arranged to be\nheld in the Church which we had just left, and in a few moments that\nbuilding was again filled to overflowing, and I was called upon to give\nanother address, which was translated by Pastor Razafimahefa, who\ninterprets from both French or English into Malagasy with wonderful\nforce and fluency.\n\nBut the greatest gatherings took place on the following morning. At\n6 o\u2019clock seven of the most spacious Churches were thronged to their\nutmost capacity, some having arrived at 4 a.m. to secure a seat for\nthe meetings, which were not to commence till four hours later. I\nwas appointed to speak at the great meeting for men in the spacious\nAmpamarinana Church, which had for hours been filled to overflowing.\nAs soon as I had spoken I was hurried away in a chair to an overflow\nmeeting in a neighbouring Church, and, having spoken there, went on to\nFaravohitra Church, which was crowded with women, where my address was\ntranslated by Mrs. Milledge, who speaks Malagasy like a native. The\nservice at this Church was concluded by eleven o\u2019clock. Then came one\nof the characteristic features of the meetings of the Isan-Enim-Bolana.\nIt is the practice for the Mother Churches in the Capital to entertain\nthe delegates from the various Daughter Churches in the country. I\nwent to Analakely, where some 1,400 people sat down in five relays\nto abundant meals of rice and meat prepared by their hosts. The same\ngracious hospitality was shown in each of the Mother Churches of\nTananarive. After attending such gatherings one wonders whether there\nis any place in the world, unless it is Korea, where such great crowds\ngather for Christian worship.\n\nThe hearts of sympathetic visitors to Madagascar are often thrilled\nat these manifest signs of the Divine blessing upon the work of the\nMissionaries, but very little investigation shows that there is another\nside to the picture, and that the young Malagasy Church needs all its\nzeal and courage to face the difficulties and dangers with which it is\nsurrounded. Apart from the experience which unfortunately is common in\nall Christian communities, that practice does not always correspond\nwith profession, the Malagasy Christians have special difficulties of\ntheir own which confront the growing Church. They have to face the\ntemptations which beset a backward race living in the tropics, and the\nstruggle with sensualism and immorality is a severe one.\n\nMoreover, in recent years materialism and agnosticism have come\ninto the land like a flood, and tax to the uttermost the wisdom and\nconsecration of the Christian workers in the island. Again, it must be\nremembered that the activities of the Church are being carried on in\nan unsympathetic environment, for apart from the deadening influence\nof the native heathenism amidst which the Church is at work, the\nunfriendly attitude towards religion of the French official class is\nfelt on every hand. Again, on the north-east and north-west coasts the\nmenace of the advance of Islam is increasingly felt, and already there\nare at least 75,000 Moslems in the country, professing a degraded type\nof Mohammedanism and introducing many vices, especially drunkenness\nand immorality. It will be a surprise to many to know that during the\nrecent Balkan war a collection was made in Madagascar to help the\nTurks to fight \u201cthe vile Christians.\u201d\n\nWith these and other difficulties confronting the young Malagasy\nChurch, it will be readily understood that the battle is by no means\nwon. Moreover, much of the field has, up to the present, not been\noccupied by the Christian army, and great is the work remaining to be\naccomplished.\n\nIf one stands on the verandah of \u201cthe House of Sweet Breezes\u201d at\nAnjozorobe, the Society\u2019s most northern station, and turn one\u2019s eyes\nto the north, there is a stretch of country extending well-nigh 500\nmiles to Diego Suarez. In this vast district, the area of which exceeds\nthat of England and Wales, there is at the present time but one white\nmissionary. It is true that some dozen native missionaries, sent out\nby the Isan-Enim-Bolana of Imerina, are at work in this territory,\nand many of these men are carrying on their missionary labours with\nenergy and devotion, but without any European supervision. The Native\nMissionary organisation which sent them forth would welcome such\nsupervision, and would be prepared to send more labourers into the\nvineyard, if well-trained men were available for service. In the near\nfuture the main work of the European missionary must be the training\nof the Native missionary. As the Church at the centre grows and\nmultiplies, and becomes stronger and more efficient, the need of the\npresence of a large number of European missionaries will gradually\ndiminish. The test of the success of their work will be that they have\nmade themselves unnecessary. As the College in Tananarive attracts\nand trains and sets to work Christian Natives of good education\nand apostolic fervour, so the work now carried on by the European\nmissionaries will steadily pass into the hands of the Native Pastors,\nand, under the blessing of God, the day will come in the not distant\nfuture when the foreign worker will be able to withdraw, having\ncompleted his task.\n\n \u201cAnd lo! already on the hills\n The flags of dawn appear;\n Gird up your loins, ye prophet souls,\n Proclaim the day is near;\n\n The day in whose clear-shining light\n All wrong shall stand revealed,\n When justice shall be clothed with might,\n And every hurt be healed:\n\n When knowledge, hand in hand with peace,\n Shall walk the earth abroad,--\n The day of perfect righteousness,\n The promised day of God.\u201d","title":"Through lands that were dark: Being a record of a year's missionary journey in Africa and Madagascar","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":38248}