^ r •}? U Wi THE PROPOSED MISSION IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 3. 53. C. f. 4tt. 1879. RtC.OCT \8&° \> W.ft.FISH PHQXQ-ENG. BOSTON. American Boarti of Commissioners for jFo reign Missions. THE PROPOSED MISSION IN CENTRAL AFRICA. A PAPER READ AT THE ANNUAL MEETING AT SYRACUSE, N. Y., OCTOBER 8, 1879. BY Rev. JOHN O. MEANS, D. D. CAMBRIDGE: $rtnteb at tfic 1879. PRINCE! TON .REC. OCT 1880 THEOLOGICAL THE PROPOSED MISSION IN CENTRAL AFRICA- BY REV. JOHN O. MEANS, D. D. “ In the nineteenth century the white has made a man out of the black ; in the twentieth century Europe will make a world out of Africa.” The French periodi- cal which quotes this saying of “ one of the great poets of the world ” has ac- counts of enterprises innumerable, scientific, commercial, and religious, which are working towards the fulfillment of the poet’s prediction. “The African ques- tion,” it declares, “preoccupies all minds, and the Central Plateau might be com- pared to a vast citadel assailed on every side by armies of merchants eager to know the riches it contains.” 1 We are best acquainted with what England is doing ; but Germany, France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, all have their parties of scientific explorers penetrating the vast unknown ; while commercial companies are organizing for manufacturing, for traffic, and for communication by canals, railroads, telegraph lines, steamboats, and elephant trains. The flooding of the Sahara may seem chimerical ; to make an inland sea over which transit shall be swifter than by camels, while by the evaporation of its waters the shores shall be made fertile and fruitful in harvests. But the French government looks favor- ably upon the railway from Algeria towards the Soudan, and four other railroads to the interior are projected. 2 With towns hidden in the mysterious depths like Sansandig of only 40,000 inhabitants, but which has “ merchants who could at a moment’s notice produce $250,000 or $300,000 more readily than many European bankers ; ” with cities like Kuka, of 60,000 inhabitants ; Bida, Abeokuta, and Illora, of 80,000, and Ibadan, of 150,000 ; 3 with exports from the single port of Lagos of two and a half million dollars, 4 paid for in the products of English looms and an- vils; it is not strange that keen-eyed Commerce should be looking into this “ Dark Continent.” Seven hundred thousand kilograms, a million and a half pounds, of ivory, are annually received in England, it is stated, 5 to yield which 50,000 ele- phants must be slain — some inroad this must make upon the monsters of which Livingston saw troops two miles long 6 — cotton to be obtained, coffee, camwood, 1 L'Afrique Exploree et Civilisie , Journal Mensual, Prem. Ann., 1879-1880. Gen&ve et Paris, 1879. No. 1, July, 1879, pp. 3, 18. 2 For exploring expeditions now in progress and commercial companies, see L'Afrique , No. 1, pp. 7-15, 18, 19,21,22, and No. 2, August, pp. 25-28, 34-38, September, pp. 43,49. Proceedings of the Royal Geo- graphical Society , London, 1879 ; for February, pp. 123 seq.; for May, pp. 328 seq. ; for June, pp. 358, 382 seq. ; for August, pp. 312 seq. ; for September, pp. 589, 591. 3 Rohlf, in Stanford’s Compendium of Geog. and Travel , “ Africa,” edited and extended by Keith John- ston, London, 1878, pp. 153, 154, 163, 181. A minute description of Kuka, the life and business, trades and ocupations, and amusements of the people is given in Sahara und Soudan Ergebnisse sechsjdhrige Reisen in Afriha, von Dr. Gustav Nachtigal, Erster Theil, mit neun und vierzig Holtzschnitten und zwei Karten. Ber- lin, 1879 (June). Imp. 8vo, pp. 768. Book II., chs. 5 to 10, pp. 581-784. 4 Journal Society of Arts, June 13, 1879, P- 645. In 1875, English produce, imported at Lagos, was valued at ^ 4 S 9 > 737 » African produce exported, .£517,536, a total of £977,27$ = $4,590,000. In 1876 the trade in India-rubber on the East Coast reached $500,000. Stevenson, Civilization of Southeastern Africa, Glas- gow, 1877. 6 L'Afrique Explorie, p. 17. Livingstone's Last Journals, vol. ii., pp. 89 et seq. The Last Journals of David Livingstone in Central Africa, from 1865 to his death, continued by a narrative of his last moments and sufferings, obtained from his faithful servants, Chuma and Susi, by Horace Waller, f. r. g. s., Rector of Twywell, Northampton, 1874, 2 vols., 8vo. 6 Expedition to the Zambesi, ch. 6. 4 The Proposed Mission in Central A frica . indigo, gold, iron, copper, coal, palm oil, India rubber, beeswax, ground nuts, a fresh market for what is yielded by her whirling spindles and her skillful fingers ; it would be strange if Europe did not try to make a world out of Africa. In the making, Christianity must have a hand or there will be a failure. Chris- tianity has made the beginning. This inroad upon the Central Plateau is through the gates which Christian Missions have opened. The movement towards scien- tific exploration of the recesses of Africa and all that is coming out of it, originated in what was done’ by self-denying ministers of the Church Missionary Society, who do not yet rest from their labors, though their works do follow them. 1 I. THE COUNTRY IN GENERAL. The continent of Africa is equal in area to Europe and North America com- bined, and has a population more than double that of both Americas ; it holds nearly one sixth of the human race. 2 The northern portion was the seat of ancient civilization, and has had its part to play in the modern world. South Africa for more than two hundred years has been the seat of European colonies, which are now becoming opulent free states. Central Africa has been almost an unknown region till our day. Snow-capped mountains maybe seen from far ; but Kilimanjaro and Kenia, though only two hundred miles from the eastern coast, had not been seen by European eyes till 1848; and the story of missionaries about the great inland seas was laughed at in geographical circles twenty-five years ago. To many the marvelous volumes of Mr. Stanley first disclosed the mysteries of “The Dark Continent”; dark in our knowledge of it and in its moral coloring, though in its physical characteristics comparable with the fairest quarters of the globe. Mr. Stanley, in his great feat of crossing from east to west, was preceded a year by Commander Cameron, who went through lower down. Dr. Livingstone ranged up from the Cape Colony to Angola and crossed again from west to east and zigzagged through the southern portions. Dr. Lacerda, in 1798, penetrated to the Cazembe’s capitol, as did Monteiro in 1831 ; the Portuguese knew of Lake Nyassa ; Graga and Silva Porto have penetrated from the West, Savorgnan de Brazza has explored the Ogowb. Just now, Major Alexander Alberto de Serpa Pinto has crossed from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean ; whiLe Grant and Speke, Gordon, Elton, Van der Decken, Schweinfurth, and others have made great discoveries in the eastern and northern portions. Yet much remains wholly unexplored, and of what we know best our knowledge is imperfect. 3 1 Captain Speke, in his work entitled What Led to the Discovery of the Sources of the Nile , states that on his return from a journey to the Somali Land, on visiting the Royal Geographical Society, there was revealed to him for the first time the great objects of an expedition planned by Captain Burton. “ On the walls of the Society’s rooms there hung a large diagram, comprising a section of Eastern Africa, extending from the equator to 14 0 south latitude, and from Zanzibar sixteen degrees inland, which had been constructed by two reverend gentlemen, missionaries of the Church Missionary Society of London, a short time previously, when carrying on their duties at Zanzibar. In this section map, up about half of the whole area of the ground in- cluded in it, there figured a lake of such portentous size and such unseemly shape, representing a gigantic slug, or, perhaps, even closer still, the ugly salamander, that everybody who looked at it incredulously laughed and shook his head. It was indeed phenomenon enough in these days to excite anybody’s curiosity ! ” Ed- ward Hutchinson, Esq., in Journal Society 0/ Arts, June, 1876, p. 691. D’Anvers, Heroes of South African Discovery , 142. Speke, Nile Sources , 364. Proceedings of the Conference on Foreign Missions , held at the Conference Hall , in Mildmay Park , London , in October, 1878 ; the admirable paper on “ Discovery and Missions in Central Africa,” by Sir T. Fowell Buxton, Bart , pp. 35-49. 2 12,000,000 sq. m. 186,000,000 pop. Banning gives 18,000,000 sq. miles as the area, and 200,000,000 popu- lation. Africa and the Brussels Geog. Cot/f, pp. x. 33. In this paper we give round numbers and usually the lowest figures of the best authorities. They are rough estimates of course, but approximate correctness. Stanford’s admirable Compendium, “Africa,” by Keith Johnston, unfortunately does not furnish as many statistics as we look for. 3 For an admirably compact and comprehensive sketch of discoveries in Africa in the nineteenth century, see Banning, Africa and the Brussels Geog. Conf ch. 1. Revue de Geographic , Paris, Institut Gdo- graphique de Paris, July, 1879: “ Les Anciennes Explorations et les Futures Decouvertes de l’Afrique Cen- tral,” by E. T. Berlioux. On the discovery of the Snow-capped Mountains: Krapf’s Travels, Appendix, P -343 seg. 5 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa. Central Africa, geographers call that part of this mysterious continent which, with the Atlantic for its western boundary and the Indian Ocean for its eastern, lies between the parallels of about 5 0 north of the equator, and 18 0 or 20° south. 1 Bordering Central Africa on the north are the great stales of Soudan, where a sort of Mohammedanism prevails, and Abyssinia, where a sort of Christianity prevails. Above these the Sahara and the desert of Nubia stretch from the Atlantic to the Red Sea; beyond the great desert are Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Mo- rocco ; while west of the Soudan are the vast territories watered by the Sen- egal, the Gambia, the Jolliba, the Quorra, Binnu£, and Niger, coming down to the Gulf of Guinea. Towards the south, the central plateau is bounded by the Zambesi. The shape of Central Africa has been compared to that of an inverted saucer. It is rimmed on the sea-coast by a narrow strip of low land ; a few miles inland the country rounds up to a rocky ridge ; a little further in, it spreads into a table-land, which, sinking into a slight hollow towards the middle, fills the breadth of the continent. The general elevation of the table-land is more than 2,500 feet, 2 while here and there it is swollen into mountains, out of which shoot peaks which are the loftiest, with a few exceptions, of any on the globe. In the most elevated table- land there are immense swamps and lakes, which are the spring heads of the Nile, flowing northward to the Mediterranean, one eleventh of the circumference of the globe, 3 and draining a basin more than twice the size of the basin of the Missis- sippi ; of the Jub and the Dana and the Zambesi, flowing eastward to the Indian Ocean ; and of the Cunene, the Coanza, the Congo, with its 4,000 miles of navi- gable waters, and the Ogow&, emptying into the Atlantic. The area of Central Africa is greater than that of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and its population is about equal to our whole country. A characteristic feature is a chain of lakes, vaster in extent and in volume of water than those which stretch from Lake Superior to the St. Lawrence. 4 While there are interminable forests and morasses, there are still greater breadths of fertile plains and salubrious high lands. Central Africa is not, as it was once thought, a torrid desert or an unmitigated swamp, but “one of the most luxuriant and produc- tive regions of the earth.” “ It is imagined by some,” continues Mr. Rowley, who has traversed the eastern portion, “ that the great central plateau, because it is the seat of a wide-spread lake system, and is also intersected in almost every direction by rivers which have numerous branches, and in whose valleys marshes are formed, is nothing better than a huge swamp. This is an error to which travelers have un- wittingly contributed Most African explorations have had for their object the dis- covery of river sources. Travelers therefore have kept as close as they could to the rivers, and in the narratives of their travels, they frequently describe a very humid country. Livingstone was said by the natives to have been afflicted with water in the head, so persistently did he hunt after and cling to the watery regions. But no one knew better than Livingstone that the swamp lands are not the chief char- acteristic of Central Africa. He continually expatiated on magnificent ranges of highland country. My recollections of the highlands of East Central Africa are not less pleasant than were those of Dr. Livingstone. After leaving the river Shire, at about 350 miles from the coast, and passing over a hill country in which steppes al- 1 This is the definition of Central Africa, given at the International Geographical Conference at Brussels, September, 1876. History , by E. Banning. London, 1877, pp. xii., and Appendix, 133. * The surface of Victoria Nyanza is 3,700 feet above the ocean; of Tanganyika, 2,700 feet. — Banning, Bruss. Geog. Con /., 40. 3 H. M. Stanley makes the Nile 4,200 miles long. Through the Dark Continent , vol. i., p. 158. The usual estimate is about 2,300 miles. 4 The Victoria Nyanza measures, Banning says, 50,000 square miles. Tanganyika is 400 miles long, and covers 22,900 square miles. Nyassa is 200 miles long, and covers 9,000 square miles. — Banning, ch. 2. Stan- ley gives 21,500 square miles as the area of Victoria Nyanza. 6 The Proposed Mission in Central A frica. ternated with broad valleys, cultivated lands with long stretches of park like woods, we reached, at an altitude of about 2,500 feet, a seemingly illimitable plain, which opened out to view one of the most magnificent prospects I ever beheld. Far as the eye could see — and here, for the greater part of the year, the atmosphere is so clear that it does not seem to impede the vision — there extended a wide, grassy plain, broken here and there by rocks of fantastic shape, verdant hills, clusters of trees, streams of water on whose banks grew lofty trees, which formed bowers of foliage that equaled in hue and excelled in grace of form any similar production of Europe ; and mountains that far and near lifted up their heads towards the pale azure of the sky, rising sometimes to the height of nearly 10,000 feet The fertility of the greater part of this vast plain was remarkable. Year by year it produced abun- dantly a great variety of cereals and tuberous plants. The larger wild animals were scarce, for the population was great, and had driven' them to take shelter in less-peopled districts. The climate was cool and refreshing ; indeed, it was a land calculated to nourish the body, to gladden the heart, and to content the mind.” 1 The people of Central Africa belong to the great Bantu family, resembling somewhat in color and form, but differing wholly in language from, the negroes proper, who dwell north of the equator, and especially about the Gulf of Guinea. The Bantu tribes have a skin varying from a brown to a blue-black, and hair woolly, but differing in length and quality. In the far interior are tribes of dwarfs, the classical pygmies. 2 Major de Serpa Pinto met with people of yellow- ish-white skins and hair, and pink eyes. There are several large kingdoms in the interior, though generally there is a loose, incoherent, tribal relationship, with lit- tle government of any kind ; villages have head men, and look out for themselves, but give little support to one another. Cotton cloths are woven by some tribes ; smiths smelt iron ore, and hammer out hoes and spears on stone anvils ; copper ornaments are curiously wrought ; earthen pottery in basket patterns is baked by the women. A belt of cannibals, comprising some of the most vigorous and intel- ligent of the African people, 3 stretches across from the Cameroons to the Albert Nyanza. Everywhere polygamy and slavery prevail in the most degrading forms. Slaves are one of the chief products, and a great article of commerce. The inland slave trade is immense and universal. The external trade, to Egypt and the Barbary States, Arabia, and Turkey, has yearly swept off its half million souls. 4 In Northern Africa Mohammedanism is prevalent. The western coast is fringed with Christian missions from Sierra Leone to the Gulf of Guinea. In 1 Africa Unveiled, by the Rev. Henry Rowley, formerly of the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa. 1876, pp. 11, 12. Banning declares that Africa “ is rich in products of every kind, and possesses in abundance all the re- sources which form the materal basis of civilization. The populations are neither unfitted for nor opposed to all improvement. Christianity, science, and commerce are capable of changing their whole social condition. The advances which they have already realized under the least favorable circumstances are a guarantee for the future.” — Africa and the Bruss. Geog. Covf pp. ioi, 102. 2 The Heart of Africa. Three Years' Travels and Adventures in the unexplored Regions of Central Africa, from 1868 to 187/. by Dr. Georg Schweinfurth. Translated by Ellen E. Frewer, with an Introduc- tion by Winwood Reade, 1873, vol. ii., ch. 16. Through the Dark Continent , by H. M. Stanley, vol. ii., p. 172. 3 Schweinfurth, ch. 15, vol. ii., pp. 92 seq . 4 Banning gives specific figures for “400,000 persons at least. According to Sir Bartle Frere, this mini- mum is far exceeded. The Superior of the Catholic Mission of Central Africa estimates at a million of men the amount of loss which the slave trade inflicts annually on the populations of Africa.” — Africa and the Brussels Geog. Conf ., ch. iv., pp. 94 seq., specially. Commander Cameron says “ The slave trade in Africa causes, at the lowest estimate, an annual loss of over half a million lives.” — Across Africa , by Verney Lovet Cameron, c. b., d. c. l-, Commander Royal Navy, Gold Medalist R. G. S , 1877, vol. ii., p. 336. See, also, Travels and Researches among the Lakes and Mountains of Eastern and Central A frica , from the journals of the late J. Frederic Elton, f. r. g. s., H. B. M. Consul at Mozambique, edited and completed by N. B. Cotterill. 8vo, 1879. Introductory chapter on “Africa and iha Slave Trade,” by Frederic Holmwood, Esq., H. M. Assistant Political Agent at Zanzibar. The Proposed Mission in Central Africa. 7 South Africa twelve or fifteen societies are doing a noble work. As for the in- terior, it is less than twenty years since the first Protestant undertaking was made, and less than ten years since any Society was fairly established . 1 II. ORGANIZATIONS NOW AT WORK IN CENTRAL AFRICA. We cannot know what we ought to do until we know what others are doing. Upon this immense plateau of heathenism, with its seething swamps and morasses and icy peaks and its fertile plains and breezy uplands, there are at the present time ten Christian organizations at work. On an equal division, each society would have a parish of sixty thousand square miles and of four million souls. 1. The Church Missionary Society of England, thirty-five years ago, led the way for all that has come and is coming, by planting a mission at Mombasa, on the Indian Ocean, near Zanzibar. Mombasa is not inland, but it has proved, in God’s providence, the first step thitherward. Three years ago this venerable so- ciety struck inland seven or eight hundred miles to Victoria Nyanza, and began a mission in Uganda and Karagua, with stations at Mpwapwa and elsewhere, inter- mediate from the coast. This region is in the extreme northern part of Central Africa, and is of vast magnitude. The Victoria Nyanza covers an area equal to the great State of New York, and its shores and beautiful islands are alive with busy populations. Mr. Stanley says King Mtesa had a navy of three hundred war canoes, and an army of one hundred and fifty thousand warriors . 2 Great dif- ficulties are encountered in the mission, great sacrifices of precious lives, and large expenditures of treasure, have been made ; but the latest intelligence is full of promise . 8 1 In Algeria there are Roman Catholic Missions. At the Gambia there are stations of the Wesleyan Metho- dist Society and of the Paris Socidte des Missions Evang^lique. At the Pongas, those of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and of the Church of England West Indian Missionary Association. At Sierra Leone, those of the Church Missionary Society, of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, of Lady Huntingdon’s Connection, and of the United Methodist Free Churches. At Mendi, those of the American Missionary Asso- ciation, and of the Church Missionary Society. At Liberia, those of the American Protestant Episcopal, of the American Methodist Episcopal, and of the American Presbyterian Societies, and of the Basle Missions Evangeliques. On the Gulf of Guinea, those of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, of the Basle Missions Evan- g^liques, of the North German (Bremen) Missions Gemeinde. At Yoruba, those of the Church Mission- ary Society, of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, of the American Southern Baptist Convention. On the Niger, at old Calabar and the Cameroons, are those of the Church Missionary Society, of the United Presby- terian, and of the English Baptist Missionary Societies. At the Gaboon and Corisco, those of the American Presbyterian Board. Among the Damaras, and in Namaqua Land, those of the Rhenish and of the Wes- leyan Methodist and of the Finnish societies. In Cape Colony, those of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, of the London Missionary Society, of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, of. the United Brethren, of the Berlin Gemeinde, of the Rhenish (Barmen) Gemeinde, of the Paris Society Evangelique, of the Reformed Church of Cape Colony, of the Scotch Free Church, of the Uniied Presbyterian Foreign Missionary Society, and a Moslem Missionary Society. In the Transvaal, Kaffraria, Natal, and Zululand, those of the London Mission- ary Society, of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, of the Paris Soci^te des Missions Evangeliques, of the Berlin Missions Gemeinde, of the Hermannsburg Missions Gemeinde, of the Reformed Church of Cape Colony and of Natal, of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, of the Scotch Free Church, of the Scotch United Presbyterian, of the United Brethren, of the Norway Missions Gemeinde, of the Swiss of Canton de Vaud, of the American Board, of several independent laborers, and of the Roman Catholics. In Madagascar are those of the Roman Catholics, of the Norway Missions Gemeinde, of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and of the London Missionary Society. In Abyssinia, those of the London Jewish Missionary Society, of the Established Church of Scotland Jewish Mission, of the St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission, of the Swedish Evan- gel. Fosterlands Stifels, and of the Roman Catholics., In Egypt, those of the Roman Catholics, of the American United Presbyterian, of the St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission, and of several independent laborers. About i860 the St. Chrischona brethren projected an “ Apostles’ Street,” to reach from Egypt southward ; to be comprised in twelve stations, fifty leagues distant from each other, — St. Matthew’s Station to be at Alexandria, St. Mark’s at Cairo, St. Luke’s at Assuan, and thus onward. The “ Apostles’ Street ” has not been completed, and the project never had much success. See Krapf, 133. * Through the Dark Continent, vol. i., ch. 12. 6 For an interesting history of this mission, and the preparatory work, see The Victoria Nyanza , a field for Missionary Enterprise , by Edward Hutchinson, f. r. g. s., f. s. a., author of “The Slave Trade of East Africa,” 1876, 8vo, pp. 136. The Victoria Nyanza Mission, a brief account of the Church Missionary Society’s Mission to Central Africa, with extracts from the missionaries’ letter, and a new map, pp. 60 (1878). 8 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa. 2. The United Methodist Free Churches of England have had a mission since 1862, at Ribe, near Mombasa, a few miles from the ocean, and about one hundred and fifty miles south of the Dana River. 1 3. The Universities’ Mission, the first mission in the interior, established by gentlemen of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, and Dublin Universities, was com- menced in i860, among the Shird highlands, near lake Nyassa, and after the sad death of Bishop McKenzie, was removed to Zanzibar, and now has stations on that island, at Magila, on the mainland, two days inland, at Masasi, one hundred and thirty miles inland, and is occupying the territory between Lake Nyassa and the ocean. 2 4. The London Missionary Society has taken the region of Lake Tanganyika, seven hundred miles by road from the ocean. It is to have stations at Mirambo’s town, in Ugara, at Ujiji on the east shore, and elsewhere on the lake. The re- gion is immense, and of commanding importance, on the great line of caravans across the continent. It is proving very costly in life and treasure to lay the foundations. 3 5. On Lake Nyassa, farther south, and comparatively easy of access, with water deeper and wilder than that of any Scotch tarn, and mountains by the side of which Ben Nevis would seem an ant-hill, in 1875, the Free Church of Scotland commenced the Livingstonia Mission, and the Established Church a mission at Blantyre, near by. So momentous did the question of a wise location seem that Dr. Stewart, of Lovedale, was taken from his important charge of the college and spent months in making inquiries and explorations before this region was de- cided upon, though David Livingstone himself had recommended it. 4 6. The Socidte des Missions Rvangdliques, of Paris, in conjunction with its Basuto churches, has made explorations with the view of occupying the Barots& Valley, which is the region about the head-waters of the Zambesi, above the Vic- toria Falls, some 1,200 miles from the mouth of the river. 5 The Lost Continent , its Discovery and Recovery , or A frica and the Church Missionary Society, by Edward Hutchinson, f. r. g. s., etc., etc., 8vo, pp. 72, 1879. Eastern Africa as a Field for Missionary Labor. Four letters to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, by Rt. Hon. Sir Bartle Frere, g. c. s. 1., k. c. b., D. c. l., etc., with a Map, 1874, 8vo, pp. 122. Second letter. The expenses of this mission, commenced in 1876, are reported to March, 1876, £849; to March, 1877, £9,069: to March, 1878, £7,073; to March, 1879, £13,839. Total, £30,830 = $154,000. March, 1879, the staff comprised two clergymen and seven lay teachers, with two stations. 1 Life , Wanderings , arid Labors in Eastern Africa , with an account of the first successful ascent of the equatorial Snow Mountain, Kilima Njaro, and remarks upon East African Slavery, by Charles New [mis- sionary at Ribe, where he lies buried], with map and illustrations, 1874, 8vo, 530 pp. Memorials of Charles New, by S. S. Barton, 1876, i2mo, pp. 230. Memoirs of Mrs- Rebecca Wakefeld, by R. Brown. Twenty-second Annual Report of Home and Foreign Missions, United Methodist Free Churches, 1878. Magazine of same for July, 1878. Expenses for year ending, June, 1878, £1,808. Four (?) missionaries. 2 Reports from 187010 1879. Occasional Papers, Nos. 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, to March, 1879. Reports for Paro- chial Use, 1865 to 1873. The Early Years of the Universities' Mission, by Rev. H. Rowley. The Work of Christ in Central Africa,by Rev. J. P. Farler, 2d ed., 1878. Bishop Steere’s Account of Zanzibar. Sir Bartle Frere’s Eastern Africa, pp. 24-47. At the close of 1878 the European staff numbered one bishop, six priests, six deacons, and tw'elve laity, six of whom were women. Amount expended in 1S7S was £4,520 19 s. 9 d. The average for the five last years is about £5,425. 3 The Mission in Central Africa. With Map. March, 1879. The Eighty-fourth Annual Report of the London Missionary Society, for year ending May 1, 1878. Expenses reported to May, 1877, £3,584 ; to May, 1878, £4,046. 4 Eastern Central Africa. Livingstonia : The Mission of the Free Church of Scotland to Lake Nyassa 2d edition, 1876, pp. 48. Nyassa: a Journal of Adventures while exploring Lake Nyassa , Central Af rica, and establishing the Settlement of Livingstonia. By E. D. Young, R. N. Revised by Rev. Horace Waller, f. r. g. s. With Maps, 1877, 12010, pp. 239. Report [of Free Church of Scotland] on Foreign Mis- sions. With Maps. May, 1879. African Papers, No. 1, Livingstonia. Edited by James Stewart, m. d., f. R. G. s., 1870, 8vo, pp. 74. The cost of the Livingstonia Mission is reported, to April, 1876, £5,111 ; 1877, £2,160; 1878, £3,382; 1879, £2,150. Total, £12,803 = $64,000. Staff, one minister, one evangelist seven artisans. The expenses of the Blantyre Mission are reported to January 7, 1877, £3*548 ; 1878, £1,226; j 879, £2,115. Total, £6,889 = $34,500. Staff, one minister and wife, one physician, one dairy woman, five artisans. B The Journal des Missions Eva ngel iques, from March, 1876, to July, 1879, contains communications from M. Coillard touching the Barotse Valley. $\me Rapport, Mai, 1879, pp. 29-34. 9 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa. 7. The Livingstone Inland Mission has had missionaries since 1878 on the At- lantic coast working about the mouth of the Congo, and measures are in progress to reenforce them and push into the region north of Stanley Pool. 1 8. The Baptist Missionary Society of England has a station at Makuta, near the Congo, south of the Yellala Cataracts, and is endeavoring to reach Stanley Pool and work upward on the south side of the great river. 2 9. The Roman Catholics have missions at Zanzibar, 8 at Bagamoyo, at Ujiji, and in Mtesa’s kingdom, and on the Congo. A company of priests is also on the way to the Barots& Valley, traversing the immense spaces in wagons from Cape Town. 10. Another organization really Christian, and which may be so helpful to all the missions that it should not be omitted in enumerating the agencies at work for the redemption of Central Africa, is the International Association for the Sup- pression of the Slave Trade and opening of Central Africa. In September, 1876, under the presidency and by the invitation of His Majesty Leopold II., the King of the Belgians, there was held at his palace at Brussels a Geographical Confer- ence, comprising eminent men of seven great European nations. An organization was formed, with King Leopold as President, and the Presidents of the Geograph- ical Societies of Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and London, as Vice-presidents, “ to explore scientifically the unknown parts of Central Africa, to facilitate the opening of roads by which civilization may be introduced, and to find means of suppress- ing the negro slave trade.” In pursuance of these objects, the one practical measure determined upon was the formation of relief stations, at Bagamoyo on the east, at Loanda on the west coast, at Ujiji, and Nyangwd, and at Muato Yanvo’s capital in the interior, and at other commanding centers. The relief stations are to have no military surroundings ; they are to comprise a scientific man as chief, with a naturalist, an astronomer, and several artisans skilled in handicraft. The aid of merchants and consuls, where such are found, is to be invoked. The stations are to be provided with stores of every kind, to furnish resting-places for travelers, explorers, missionaries, to supply necessaries, and gather information. They are not to be distinctively commercial, nor religious. “Missionaries,” says the Secretary, “ will be free to come and establish themselves in the neighborhood, and to erect places of worship and schools ; to whatever creed they belong, they will receive aid and support from the Relief Stations.” 4 Expeditions to carry out these great objects have already started. Companies of scientific men have gone in from Zanzibar, and one or two other stations are in process of establishment to- wards Lake Tanganyika and beyond. Mr. Stanley’s expedition to the mouth of the Congo is a part of this scheme. His Majesty, King Leopold, expressed the hope that our Board, in its proposed mission, would find these Relief Stations helpful, and would also contribute, by what it should do, something to increase the num- ber and usefulness of such Relief Stations. 5 1 Livingstone (Congo) Inland Mission. Report of first year’s work, 1878. Hon. Secretary, Rev. Alfred Tilly, Cardiff, Wales. 1879 Receipts, ,£1,26645. i%d. Payments, £937 17 s - 3^- Five (?) missionaries ; two stations. The Regions Beyond , edited by Mrs. H. Gratten Guinness; number for March, 1879. 2 The (Baptist, English) Missionary Herald , 1877 to 1879, contains papers of great interest on this under- taking ; also, “ Explorations inland from Mount Cameroons, and through Congo to Mkouta,” by Rev. T. J . Comber, February, 1879. Expenses, 1879, £1,200 ; staff, four missionaries. 3 Sir Bartle Frere, Eastern Africa , ch. 2, gives some account of them. For more recent expeditions. Proceedings of Royal Geographical Society , for August, 1879, p. 513. 4 “This abstention [from religion], however, proceeds neither from indifference nor from skepticism. Ft r from being hostile to the preaching of the gospel, the greater part of the members of the conference were of opinion that this preaching would be highly salutary, and might become the most active forerunner of the moral regeneration of the patives of Africa. History shows that Christianity possesses a special virtue for rescuing savage races from barbarism, and making them rapidly overstep the first barriers to civilization. This great and legitimate influence will not therefore be disregarded, but its guidance must necessarily rest in the hands of the Christian churches.” — Banning , pp. 114, 115, as below, note 2. 5 For a full account of this movement, see Africa and the Brussels Geographical Conference , by Emile 10 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa. In proposing to join forces with these great organizations already at work for the evangelization — the King of the Belgians himself used the word evangeli- zation — of the Dark Continent, it would be unpardonable not to seek carefully and avail ourselves eagerly of the information they have gained, the fruits of their explorations, the lessons of their experience, and the counsels they have to offer. We gladly take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation of the dis- tinguished courtesies and generous favors received in the prosecution of our inquiries from officers and members of these honored societies ; from mission- aries, explorers, and travelers, and from many other gentlemen in the most emi- nent stations of the civil, scientific, and social life of Europe, who have manifested a lively interest in our work, and have rendered substantial assistance . 1 Banning, member of the Conference. Translated by Richard Henry Major, F. S. A., with a map. London, 1877, i2mo, pp. xv., 188. L'Afrique Exploree, No. 1, for July, 1879, p. 19, has an account, correct as far as it goes, of Mr. Stanley’s new expedition. Also, Proceedings 0/ Royal Geographical Society , August, 1879, p. 502. Mittheilungen der Africanischen Gesellscha/t in Deutschland , Heft P., 1878, full account of the German Expeditions, pp. 10-16, 21-24; particulars of the International Africanische Association, pp. 24-45, Heft II., March, 1879, Heft III., June 1879. For many other statements as to these societies, and as to other points in this paper not otherwise specified, the authority is private memoranda of personal conversa- tions and interviews. 1 As the value of information and suggestions depends upon the persons from whom the suggestions and in- formation come, it may be proper to name some of those who have contributed favors of this kind. Among them are : Pasteur Georges Appxa, Assesseur of the Society des Missions Evangeliques, Paris ; Robert Ar- thington, Esq., Leeds, England; A. H. Baynes, Esq., Secretary Baptist Missionary Society, London; H. W. Bates, Esq., Secretary and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London ; Rev. Prof. Blakie, Edinburgh, now writing the life of Dr. Livingstone; M. E. Bertram Bocande, of the Portuguese Concession Company, Paris; Pasteur A. Boegner, Sous-Directeur Society des Miss. Evangeliques, Paris ; Prof. M. Burrows, of the University Mission, Oxford; Baron Georg von Bunsen, Berlin, of the Imperial Parliament, the Berlin Geo- graphical Society, and the International African Exploration Society ; Rev. Robert Busheli., Secretary of the United Methodist Free Church Missions, Sheffield; Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart., Fellow and ex- President of the Royal Geographical Society; Robert N. Cust, Esq., of London, formerly in the East In- dian Civil Service, Fellow and Councillor of the Royal Geographical Society, of the Royal Asiatic Society, of the Christian Vernacular Society, Director of the Church Missionary Society, etc. ; Rev. Prof. Theod. Christlieb, of Bonn ; Rev. J. E. Carlyle, author of South Africa and its Mission Fields ; Rev. E. Cas- salis, long a missionary among the Basutos, now Directeur of the Societe des Missions Evangeliques, at Paris ; John Coles, Esq., Fellow and Map Curator of the Royal Geographical Society, London ; Commander V. L. Cameron, r. n., c. b., d. c. l., f. r. g. s., etc , etc., who preceded Stanley a year in crossing Africa ; Herr Eick, of Barmen, many years connected with a trading company in Africa, and now preparing to labor there as a missionary of the Reinische Missions-Gesellschaft ; Rev. J. P. F arler, formerly of the Univer- sities’ Mission on the Zanzibar Coast; Rev. Dr. Fabri, of Barmen, Director of the Reinische Missions- Gesellschaft; Col. James A. Grant, of the Indian Army, the African Explorer, f. r. g. s., London; Rev. H. Gratten Guinness, of the Missionary Training College, Bow, East London, and of the Livingston Inland (Congo) Mission Committee; Edward Hutchinson, Esq., f. r. g. s., f. s. a., etc., Lay Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, London; Rev. R. W. Heanly, Secretary of the Universities’ Mission ; Rev. Dr. J. L. Krapf, the veteran missionary in Abyssinia and Eastern Africa, now at Kornthal, near Stutt- gardt, at work on a new edition of his Suaheli Dictionary ; Rev. John Kelner, formerly missionary in South Africa, and now Secretary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, London ; Rev. Dr. Kennedy, of the United Presbyterian Missionary Society, Edinburgh ; Rev. Ed. Kratzenstein, of the Berliner Missions-Gesellschaft ; M.le Baron de Lambermont, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, etc., Bruxelles ; J. S. Maclagan, Esq., Sec’y For. Miss. Com. of the Church of Scotland; John Muir, Esq., m. d., Edinburgh, of the Livingstone Mission Committee; Major C. H. Malan, of London, who is inaugurating native evangelistic labors in Africa ; A. Marshall, Esq., Chairman of the African Com- of the London Missionary Society; Rev.THOS. Main, Convener of the Com. on African Missions of the Free Church of Scotland, Edinburgh ; Rev. Dr. Robert Moffatt, ll. d., f. r. g. s., etc., the veteran African Missionary and Explorer; A. McColl, Esq., of Leicester, who has traversed the Barotse Valley, and is now taking charge of missionary explorations about the Congo in behalf of the Livingstone Inland Mission Society; Dr. Gustav Nachtigal, who crossed the Sahara and pushed explorations through Soudan and the Lake Chad region, and now, just issuing his learned volumes of travels, is President of the Geog. Society and of the African Exploration Society of Berlin ; the Right Hon. the Earl of Northbrook, g. c. s. 1., late Viceroy of India, President of the Royal Geographical Society, etc., etc.; M. le Comte d’Outremont, Brussels ; Major Alexander Alberto de Serpa Pinto, who has just returned from his perilous journey from Angola through Bihe and the Barotsd Valley to Natal ; Rev. Robert Robinson, Sec- retary of the London Missionary Society; Rev. H. Rowley, of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, author of A frica Unveiled , The Early Years of the Universities' Mission, etc., etc. ; E. C. Rye, Esq., Fellow and Librarian Royal Geographical Society; John Stephen, Esq., Glasgow, of the Livingstonia Mission Committee and of the Central African Trading Company; Rev. Dr. A. Schreiber, Barmen, Inspector of the Rheinische Missions-Gesellschaft ; Hon. Henry S. Sanford, late U. S. Minister at the Court of Belgium, Brussels; Eugene Stock, Esq , Editor of the Church Missionary Society publications; George Smith, Esq., The Proposed Mission in Central A f idea. i III. WHERE SHOULD A NEW MISSION BE ESTABLISHED ? In the judgment of those whose advice is of most value, the question of loca- tion is of supreme importance. Mistakes involving large expenditures of money and sacrifice of life have been made, by our own Board as well as by other societies, and in this very continent of Africa, in entering regions which afterwards had to be abandoned. A missionary society cannot be justified in selecting only a good field if there is a better one accessible ; much less can it be justified if it fails to seek all available information as to regions that seem inviting. Nor will it answer, as our experience during the past few weeks teaches, to rely upon the information vhich is on the surface, or to take up with what may seem at first view most promising fields ; prolonged inquiries may prove fields of outward promise to be undesirable, or that others are preferable. To the inquiry, what portion of Central Africa now most needs missionary labors, and offers most encouragement ; where we should interfere with no other society, but might best cooperate with all ; and where the work is not likely to be done unless we do it, eight regions, to nan e only those of great importance, have been suggested. i. The first is that of the Upper Congo. Mr. Arthington, of Leeds, who, it was understood, proposed to give ,£3,000 to- wards a mission in Central Africa, specifically allotted a territory beginning where the Ikalembe flows into the Congo, six or seven hundred miles from its mouth, thence running a thousand miles or so along the river eastward and southward. Nine degrees of longitude and fifteen degrees of latitude comprise this allot- ment, including an area nearly equal to the United States east of the Mississippi. It is in favor of it that it is a vast domain, in the very heart of the continent ; that here, probably, the darkness is densest and the savagery most unmitigated ; that the region has never been trodden by the feet of gospel messengers ; and that no other society is likely to enter it. On the other hand, it must be said that we know almost nothing, and need to verify what knowledge we have of the country and of the people. Mr. Stanley swept down the broad swift current of the Congo, seeing only what a man in a boat could see over banks shrouded in part for leagues by impenetrable forests, or jungles of tall reeds and rushes. Commander Cameron crossed the southern part of this region, and Dr. Livingstone penetrated it here and there. Nyangwd, the largest town on the eastern sweep of the Congo, is the great center for Arab slavers. Of Muato Yanvo’s capital, no traveler gives any description. From all accounts, this great inland, upland, billowy plateau, has a teeming population of discordant and belligerent tribes, some of them ferocious cannibals. Armed launches may force a passage up and down the river. Some time must elapse be- fore it would be hopeful to establish mission stations. Neither of the missionary societies at work below Stanley Pool counts upon reaching the smooth water above the cataracts in less than a year. Mr. Stanley, with his steam launches ll. d., c. x. e , etc., etc., Secretary of the Free Church Missions Board, Edinburgh; The Right Hon. the Earl of Shaftsbury; Rev. J. P. Thompson, d. d., ll. d., Fellow of the Geog. Society and of the African Exploration Society at Berlin, etc., etc- ; E. B. Underhill, Esq-, ll. d., f. r. g. s., etc., late Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, London ; Rev. Henry Wright, Canon of St. Pauls, Hon. Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, etc., etc.; Henry Wright, Esq., a Director of the London Missionary Society; Rev. J. O. Whitehouse, Assistant Secretary London Missionary Society; Rev. T. Wakefield, of the United Methodist Free Church Missions, many years at Ribe, and who has explored the region of Mt. Kenia; Rev. Horace Waller, f. r. g. s., etc., Rector of Twywell, Northampton, Editor of Livingstone's Last Journals , formerly of the Universities’ Mission, with Bishop McKenzie, and a companion of Dr. Livingstone; Monier Williams, ll. d., etc., Prof, of Sanskrit, Oxford ; W. H. Wyld, Esq., of the Staff of the Foreign Office, Lon don; Sir Harry Verney, of the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, etc., etc.; Robert Young, Esq., Assistant Secretary of the Free Church Missions Committee, Edinburgh. In addition to these we take the liberty to name His Majesty Leopold II., King of the Belgians, who in- spired and presided over the International Geographical Conference at Brussels, and who is making regal contributions towards the civilization of Africa. 12 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa. and great equipments for ascending the river, is not expected to get through and return in less than two years. Our friends of the Livingstone Inland Congo Mis- sion, and of the Baptist Missionary Society, express the most hearty welcome to our Board, if it will join them, and are ready to cooperate to any extent practica- ble. Ultimately, of course, these societies would expect to have, and it would be right they should have, the lower Congo for their operations. Inevitably it would be several years before an independent station could be formed by the Board above the Ikalembe, which is the lowest point Mr. Arthington designates. In- stead of adding a fourth exploring company to those already at the mouth of the Congo, it seems expedient to wait, and not to interfere with their undertakings . 1 2. The second region suggested is that of the Dana River and Mt. Kenia. On the eastern side of Africa, two or three degrees south of the equator, there is a knot of mountains which reach an altitude almost as high as Mt. Blanc would be with Mt. Washington on top of it. Two of these mountains, Kilimanjaro and Kenia, though under the very equator, with the torrid sun blazing square down upon them twelve months of the year, are covered with perpetual snow, and feed- great rivers which flow through forests of priceless timber and fertilize fields which only need the peace and security of Christian civilization to be granaries of wealth. These mountains lie east of Victoria Nyanza, towards which they may send their western rain-fall, as that on their eastern flanks discharges at a shorter distance into the Indian Ocean. The region is described by Krapf and Rebmann as the Switzerland of Africa. Mt. Kenia, nearest the equator, gives rise to the Dana River, which rushes in a strong current 200 miles to the ocean. A bar at the mouth blocks the Dana to large ships ; inside the bar, a steamer can pass up 100 miles from Formosa Bay. It is in favor of this region that several gentlemen in missionary and scientific circles, deeply interested in our undertaking, and thoroughly acquainted with African explorations, without previously exchanging a word with each other, spontaneously named this as above all others the region they would recommend to the Board. “ The climate is beautiful and healthy.” The tribes south of the river are branches of the Wapokomo and Ukambani, not very numerous, but accessible to missionary effort. Mingled with these tribes south of the Dana, and chiefly occupying the region north of it, are the Gallas, a vigorous, domi- nating race, numbering many millions , 2 and dividing with the Somali the vast ter- ritory northward to Abyssinia. The Gallas call themselves “ Orma,” which means brave men. Dr. Krapf, who knows them well, calls them the Germans of Africa, and thinks “they are destined after their conversion to Christianity to fulfill for Africa the mission which heaven has pointed out to the Germans in Europe.” 3 The Gallas are not negroes proper : they are classed among the Hamitic fam- ilies ; are “ of a dark brown color, powerfully built, more savage looking from their long hair worn like a mane on their shoulders.” In the neighborhood of Abys- sinia they are Mohammedans, and tillers of the soil ; under the equator they are heathen, and lead a nomadic life, as breeders of cattle, immense herds of which feed on the succulent plains watered by the Dana and the Jub. The approach to this field would be easy. It is not far from Zanzibar to For- mosa Bay, where the beautiful islands of Patta and Manda, fertile and healthy, would serve admirably as a base of operations. Dr. Krapf is confident that the 1 Stanley’s Throtigh the Dark Continent , vol. ii., chs. 4-16. Cameron’s Across Africa , vol. i., ch. 17, to vol. ii., ch. 10. Livingstone's Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, including a Sketch of Six- teen Years’ residence in the Interior of Africa, and a Journey from the Cape of Good Hope to Loanda on the West Coast ; thence across the Continent, down the River Zambesi, to the Eastern Ocean. By David Living- stone, LL. D., D. c. L , etc.., 1X58, 8vo, chapters 17, 18. The Last Journals of David Livingsto?ie in Central Africa , from 1865 to his death, edited by Horace Waller, etc., vol. ii., chapters 3, 4, 5, 6. Stanford’s Com- pendium ;, “Africa,” edited by Keith Johnston, chapters 21, 26, 27. 2 Krapf says seven or eight ; others say four or five millions. 8 Krapf, p. 72. 13 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa. Dana River offers a good way of reaching the northern end of Victoria Nyanza, and regards the occupancy of the Dana and Mt. Kenia as opening ultimately to the territory north and west of Albert Nyanza. The Church Missionary Society would most heartily welcome our Board to a field so closely connected with theirs at Mombasa, and at Kilimanjaro, which they hope to occupy, and at Victoria Nyanza, which they are occupying. They kindly offer to place at our disposal what Dr. Krapf, and Rebman, and others of their missionaries have done in pre- paring dictionaries and grammars, and in making explorations and gathering infor- mation. There are drawbacks to the choice of this field. Attempts have been made to occupy it, which have not succeeded. It has even proved perilous to try to pen- etrate the country of the Gallas, who are a fierce, if not a ferocious, people. Baron Van der Decken was harassed and baffled in his efforts to explore the Dana River, and was slaughtered with nearly all his followers on the Jub, a few years since (i 865). The Wapokomo, south of the Dana, are not numerous; they are to be reckoned by thousands only. A mission among the Gallas, however impor- tant, will not spread into Central Africa, but rather away from it. These and other drawbacks it may not be necessary to dwell upon in view of another con- sideration which, perhaps, will of itself be decisive. The United Methodist Free Churches, who have for seventeen years had a mission at Ribe, about 150 miles South of the Dana, say they are fully expecting to push their stations up to the Dana, and to cross it and work among the Gallas. It was not till special attention had been called to this great field, and inquiries had been pushed in various directions for all the information attainable, that dis- covery was made on a personal visit to the managers of the Free Methodist Mis- sion that for our Board to choose this region, might seem to interfere with their plans. Though the resources which our Free Methodist friends can devote to this work will not allow them to do what they would like to do and what greatly needs to be done, it was their original intention and has long been their endeavor, to labor among the Gallas. Ribe holds the precious dust of not a few of their sainted brethren and sisters : the mission is endeared to them by the sacrifices it has cost, and they are courageous to believe a brighter future is before them, and a wider territory is to be evangelized by their endeavors. 1 3. A third region, and a vast one, suggested for the Board, is the region north and west of the Albert Nyanza, among the Monbuttos and the Niam-Niams. The Church Missionary Society, with its stations on Victoria Nyanza, would cordially welcome us to this neighborhood, and be glad to share with us and have us share with them the labor and expense of developing it. From the accounts of Schweinfurth and of Gordon, this region is extremely populous and wealthy. There seems to be more consolidation of tribes into kingdoms and more advance towards civilization. Schweinfurth describes the country with admiration and extols its richness. “The Monbutto land greets us as an Eden upon earth.” The approach to this region, at present, is very difficult. The most enterpris- 1 Krapf and Rebmann : Travels , Researches , and Missionary Labors during an Eighteen Years' Res- idence in Eastern Africa , together with Journeys to Jagga , Usambara , Ukambani, Shoa, A bessinia, and Khartum; and a Coasting Voyage from Mombaz to Cape Delgado. By the Rev. Dr. J. Lewis Krapf^ Secretary of the Christian Institute at Basel, and late Missionary in the service of the Church Missionary Society in Eastern and Equatorial Africa, etc. With an Appendix respecting the Snow-capped Mountains of Eastern Africa; the Sources of the Nile; the Languages and Literature of Abessinia, Eastern Africa, etc., and a con- cise account of Geographical Researches in Eastern Africa up to the discovery of the Uyenyesi by Dr. Liv- ingstone in September la3t, by E. G. Ravenstein f. r. g. s. [this last is of special value]. London, i860. 8vo. Part I., chapters vi., viii., ix., xii. ; Part II., chapters ii., iii., vi., vii., viii., and Appendix. — New, Life , Wanderings , and Labors in Eastern Africa. Chapters vii.-xiv., xix.-xxiii. — Sir Bartle Frere, Eastern A frica , first letter. — Stanford, Compendium , “ Africa,” chapter xix. — The Geographical Society of Berlin an- nounced at their sitting, January 4, 1879, the arrival of a detailed report from Herr C. Denhardt, engaged in ex- ploring the Dana River. He had made a complete survey of the river for sixty miles from the mouth upward. 14 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa . ing explorers have not succeeded in traversing it or in penetrating it very far. The road to it, unless by the Dana, not yet proved feasible, is by ascending the Nile to Gondokoro, and so striking up to the extreme limits of the Nile basin, south and westward. It remains still to be successfully demonstrated that the vast reaches of the Upper Nile can be kept permanently clear of the floating isl- ands of vegetation, which for months effectually dam the stream to the passage of boats. In the political complications in which Egypt is involved, it is ques- tionable whether the Egyptian government can even keep up the show of sover- eignty over the immense territories she has been annexing towards the equator. Extensive explorations would be requisite, and information not now accessible must be obtained before it would be practicable to begin missionary work here. It is one of the celestial visions of the Church Missionary Society, that some day it may stretch across this continental breadth of barbarism, so that its missionaries from Mombasa and Victoria Nyanza may join hands with its missionaries com- ing in from the Atlantic, along the Niger and the Binnu^. 1 4. The three regions we have been canvassing are on the extreme northern part of Central Africa. The fourth region suggested for our occupancy is further south, between the great lakes Tanganyika and Nyassa, and thence westward. Some of those who have specially called the attention of the Board to Central Africa think that this is where we ought to begin. It would be in close proximity to the fields of the London and of the Scotch Societies, whose cooperation would be generous and helpful. It is a region comparatively easy of access ; from the ocean up the Zambesi, and the Shir& and Lake Nyassa. Gentlemen connected with the Glasgow Central African Trading Company assure us that the same facilities of transportation, which they give to the Scotch Societies, would be ex- tended to our Board. The tribes in this region are of the same great family with the Zulus, so that our mission at Natal could furnish assistance in a mission here. On the other hand, matters are in such a stage of development hereabouts just now that it would seem not wise to decide upon this field, if others as hopeful can be found elsewhere. The societies working on the two lakes are feeling their way inland, and may wish ultimately to cover this ground. While it may be true, as Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton said, that in this stage of Central African mis- sions the various societies should not scatter too much, but keep near enough to support each other, even if afterwards some of them change to new regions ; still it seems desirable in choosing our ground, to give the preference to the vast tracts which are wholly unevangelized. 2 5. In the extreme south is another region, suggested specially by a gentleman who was a member of the Universities’ Mission in their earliest movements near the Shire and Nyassa, who traversed the country about the lower Zambesi, was with Bishop McKenzie when he died, was a trusted companion of Livingstone, and the editor of Livingstone’s Last Journals . This is the region of Mt. Goron- goso. “ If I were going out to Africa again as a missionary, I should choose this of all places.” The mountain lies south of the Zambesi, not far from Senna, and not far from 1 Schweinfurth’s Heart of Africa , both volumes. Long’s Central Africa : Naked Truths of Naked Peo- ple . An Account of Expeditions to the Lake Victoria Nyanza and the Makraka N iam-N lams, west of the Bahr-el-A biad (White Nile). By Col. C. Chailld Long, of the Egyptian Staff, 8vo, 1876. Journal of Society of Arts, June 2, 1876, pp. 698^?., Paper by Edward Hutchinson, Esq. Stanford’s Co?npendium, “ Africa,” chapter 16. The field which the American Missionary Association has been asked to enter lies east of the Niam-Niams. 2 Livingstone’s Last Journals, vol. i., chapters 7, 8, 9 ; vol. ii., chapters 10-13. The Lands of Cazembe. Lacerda’s Journey to Cazetnbe in 17Q8 , translated and annotated by Capt. R. F. Burton, f. r. g. s. Also, Journey of the Pombeiros P. J. Baptista and A rnaro Jose , across Africa, from A ngola to Tette on the Zambesi , translated by B. A. Beadle; and A Resume of the Journey of MM. Monteiro and Gamitto , by Dr. C. T. Beke [published by the Royal Geographical Society], 1873, 8vo. Stanford’s Compendium, '• Africa,” chapter 21. The Proposed Mission hi Central Africa. 15 the ocean. The Jesuits, who are credited with great foresight in selecting stra- tegic points, in their palmy days in Africa had a mission here, of which the ruins are still visible. The country about is spoken of as most attractive; a healthful, fertile, beautiful country. The tribes are of the Zulu stock and language. Ac- cess would be very easy. This region, known of old as Monomotapa, is now the kingdom of Umzila, who hitherto has positively refused to allow missionaries in his dominions. It is intimated that now he is willing to receive them. The Landeens and other rov- ing freebooters, between Gorongoso and the Zambesi, have given great trouble to the Portuguese. It is believed, however, that American missionaries would have nothing to apprehend from them. Natal is not far distant, and the mission there could be helpful in this region. Indeed, it may seem best to expand the Natal mission and extend it up to this neighborhood, instead of making Gorongoso a new and special Central African mission. 1 6. Gorongoso is near the mouth of the Zambesi. Away up near the sources of the great river, above Victoria Falls, in the Barotsd Valley, is the sixth region suggested for a new mission. This Barots^ Valley is a great tract of country, ten or twelve hundred miles from the mouth of the Zambesi, of a fertility like that of the lower Nile Valley, owing its rank luxuriant growths to similar river overflows. It is about midway between Benguela on the Atlantic and Mozambique on the Indian Ocean. Some of the oldest South African missionaries and officers of societies, English, Scotch, and German, have urged its occupancy as one of the most desirable places. The French Basuto missionaries have explored the ground and attempted to plant a mission. After some months’ residence, having buried two of their explorers, they have withdrawn south again. It has been said that it was altogether un- likely our French brethren would take this field ; that they could hardly do so, as their resources were needed for work already in hand ; and by all means it was declared, if they should not, the American Board ought to undertake this field. One specific object of the visit to Paris was to learn from headquarters what the jSocietd des Missions fivangeliques, proposed to do as to the Barotse Valley., It was found that this society had cheerful expectations of occupying it; that the question was to be decided in October, at the Conference of the Basuto Mission Churches in South Africa ; that it depends upon the willingness of the Basuto Christians to take up this work. It is believed, at Paris, that they will do so. Major de Serpa Pinto traveled through this country. In answer to special in- quiries about it, in a long interview at Paris, he represented it as utterly unsuitable for missionaries. In the rainy reason, for six months of the year in fact, the country is a complete swamp, for leagues and leagues, both sides of the river, which becomes a wide lagoon. The natives have their huts on slight elevations, with water all about them. It is extremely unhealthy even for native Africans. On the simple score of the malaria, which mows down the blacks themselves, Major de Serpa Pinto would discourage the establishment of a mission there. He was to talk with the Committee of the French Mission, by their request and ap- pointment, the day after this interview, and doubtless repeated these statements to them. An English friend, Dr. McColl, who is now preparing to go to the Congo as a missionary explorer, and who has been through the Barotse Valley, gave the same account of it. Indeed, we find, what had previously escaped our notice, that Dr. Livingstone took companies of Makololos, in search of new 1 Stanford, Compendium , “Africa,” chapter 24. South Africa and its Mission Fields , by the Rev. J. E. Carlyle, late Presbyterian Minister and Chaplain, JsTatal, i2tno, 1878, chap. 20, p. 234; chap. 23, p. 285. Livingstone : Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries , and of the Discovery oj the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864, by David and Charles Livingstone, 8vo, 1866, chap. 1. Living- stone's Travels in South Africa , chap. 32. ^ 16 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa. homes, into this Barotse Valley, and it proved so unhealthy the Makololos could not live in it, for all its attractiveness otherwise. At one time, and that quite recently, it looked as though all things were point- ing to this region as the one of all Central Africa for the Board to occupy. 1 There remain to be mentioned two more great fields, which come last, because, in fact, attention was called to them last ; in importance probably they should have been put first. 7. One of these, the seventh region suggested, is that of the Portuguese Con- cession on the Zambesi. The Portuguese for two or three hundred years have claimed, and to some ex- tent exercised, rights on the Zambesi and almost across the continent, from Ben- guela to Mozambique. About the Lower Zambesi, at Senna and at Tete, the Por- tuguese have long had forts and officials. At one time they had a settlement at Zumbo, five hundred miles up the river. There was a Jesuit church there, of which the ruins still remain, and the broken bell was lying on the ground in Liv- ingstone’s time. Within a few years the deserted Zumbo has begun to be reoc- cupied, and is growing into commercial importance. To develop the marvelous resources of this great region, the government at Lisbon has made a concession of rights and privileges to a commercial company. By a decree dated December 28, 1878, the government accorded to M. Paiva d’Andrada and associates the ownership of all mines of gold, copper, iron, and coal now known in a vast territory on the Zambesi and its affluents ; the monop- oly for twenty years of working all mines that may be discovered ; the monopoly for twenty years of the forests ; and the ownership of 250,000 acres of the best lands for agriculture and colonization. The Concession covers the whole basin of the Zambesi, from where the Shird joins it eighty miles from the ocean up to the Nyampanga Island, six or seven hundred miles inward, where the great* Cafue empties its swollen waters from the north and west into the Zambesi, as the Zambesi itself comes streaming up from the Victoria Falls and the south, and by a great bend swings away eastward to the ocean. From the 14th degree of south latitude, near the foot of Lake Nyassa, the Concession includes the territory to the 17th degree of south latitude, about 9,000 square leagues. M. d’Andrada has formed an international syndicate to manage this Concession. The legal office is at Lisbon, the Board of Directors with full powers are at Paris, where the business will be done. A company has been formed ; the capital of one and a half million francs in five hundred shares has been quickly taken up, bankers competing for the stock. Arrangements are making to send at once, there are probably now on the way, scientific and commercial exploring parties, to obtain minute and exact information. There is talk of introducing colonists from Europe or Asia. That this country is very rich there can be little doubt. Gold, copper, and iron have been obtained in past years to some extent. For miles the river runs through a rich carboniferous formation ; there are numerous outcrops of coal ; from some of them Livingstone procured fuel for the steamer he took up the river. The forests abound in ebony and dye-woods, and the caoutchouc tree. Sugar-cane, tobacco, opium, cotton, coffee, have all been raised. The climate is said to im- prove as the interior is reached. The river is navigable half way up the Conces- sion to the first cataracts between Tete and Zumbo. 1 Livingstone: Travels in South Africa, chapters 8-16,23-27. Expedition to the Zambesi, chaps. 12-15. Journal des Missions Evangiliques de Paris , for March, 1876, to July, 1879, containing M. Coillard’s papers touching the Barotse Valley. Major de Serpa Pinto. Report at Lisbon, notes of which are given by a correspondent in the London Standard of June 22 and 23 (1879). Report to the Royal Geographical Society, London, July 16, 1879, in Proceedings 0/ Royal Geographical Society for August, pp. 481 seq. 17 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa. Perhaps at Zumbo, 500 miles from the ocean, where the great river Loangwa or Aruangoa comes down from the southern slope of the Lokinga Mountains, and from the ridges and table-lands between lakes Nyassa and Bangweolo, there may- be found a healthy and commanding position for a mission. The approach to it will not be difficult. Natal might be in easy communication with Zumbo. The tribes around are of the same great Bantu family with the Zulus, and the lan- guages are kindred. Away northward, around the head waters of the Loangwa, are said to be large populations. Probably from Zumbo, Chitambo’s Land, near Bangweolo, is to be reached most easily, and so also Cazembe’s Kingdom, famous of old as one of the mighty kingdoms of Africa. The neighborhood is not far from that of the Scotch Missions about Nyassa, and mutual cooperation might be possible. So far as is known, no Protestant society has it in contemplation to establish missions in this Concession. “ Here, I exclaimed,” said a gentleman of Glasgow, one of the committee of the Livingstonia Mission, and of the Central African Trading Company, “ when I read about this Concession, here is the place for a mission ! Some strong society ought to go in here at once ; it is a great opportunity.” With all that looks encouraging on the surface, we must not fail to observe that as yet we see little more than the surface, and shall do well to wait till explora- tions in progress shall furnish more thorough information. All agree that a region which has been long under Portuguese control, or influ- ence even, is not hopeful for Christian work. This region has been long under evil influence : a part of it has been for two centuries the center of the most cor- rupting, not to say the vilest, influences ; the foulest atrocities of slave-stealing and slave-trading have been committed here ; the most loathsome vices of penal criminal communities have sunk the populations, drawn or drifted in here, lower than the ordinary depth of even African barbarism. The Portuguese government of to-day seems desirous of sweeping away the evils of the past. It is joining other nations in legal enactments against slavery. It has thrown open the Zambesi to the free trade of all nations. It is sending skillful and courageous officers to explore and develop the vast tracts which have so long been known only to the Pombeiro and the Arab. The fact that here is to be started a commercial enterprise, into which may be drawn a motley company of all and of no nationalities, eager for wealth, is of course to be taken into account. The same, in its measure, however, is true, or will be true at Lake Nyassa, and Tanganyika, and at Victoria Nyanza, and at all the great centers, where various societies are planting themselves. One result of successful labors indeed is to develop commerce and quicken industrial enter- prises, and make men eager to better their fortunes ; and if a field was found far inland among primitive people, as fast as the mission elevated the natives, it would stir them up to buy and sell, and get gain by thriving industries. The scheme of introducing European and Asiatic colonists is also to be kept in mind in considering this field. But even if colonists in great numbers should come, it may be said that this region would be no worse for mission work than South Africa. Even there the natives are not yet swamped by the colonists, and are not likely to be in this generation. 1 Whatever, on the whole, be the balance of advantages or disadvantages of this region as a field for establishing a mission, — Dr. Livingstone was planning to have several societies plant missions on this great river, and declared there was widest scope for any number of separate societies not to interfere with each other — it is just now exciting extraordinary interest, and is giving promise of more rapid de- velopment than any other portion of this long-sealed Central Africa. 2 1 Carlyle, p. 4. s Livingstone, Travels in South Africa , chapters 28-31. Expedition to the Zambesi, chapters 2, 3, 6-10, 2 1 8 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa . 8 . There is one other, the eighth and last, region suggested for the new mis- sion, and which, so far as present information should influence the judgment, per- haps should have the preference. It is the region of Bih& and the Coanza. B\hb is an elevated plateau, or rather a rolling country, some two hundred and fifty miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. It lies back of Benguela, in about 12 0 south latitude. The Coanza or Ouanza is the most important river south of the Congo to the Orange ; steamers are now running to Dondo, one hundred and twenty miles from the Atlantic, where there are cataracts, and above these there is trans- portation farther by small boats. The spring heads of the river are in Bihe, and for missionary purposes Bihe and the Coanza may be named together. The important points in a country, as Bishop Steere well says, are those which trade has developed. Bihe is a great caravan center. The only route across the continent, south of the Niger, passes through Bih& ; there the road branches off for Nyangwe, on the Upper Congo, for Muato Yanvo’s Kingdom of Ulanda, and for the Cazembe, Lake Bangweolo, Tanganyika, and Nyassa, and for the Senna rivers, so called, on the Lower Zambesi, and Mozambique. The climate of Bih& is said to be delightful ; the elevation of four or five thousand feet moderates the tropical heats. The land is well watered and fruitful. Some Portuguese blood has been mingled in the population, but in the main the tribes show all the marks of the great Bantu family, which occupies this central region of the continent and spreads through Zululand southward. The language is of the same Bantu family, though many Portuguese words have come in from the western, and Suaheli words from the eastern, coast, and these two languages suf- fice for travelers. The first and great consideration in favor of this region is its healthiness. One reason why advances to the interior have been undertaken from the east coast is because this seemed less unhealthy than the west coast. Even on the east side of the continent, the Mrima , as the low, swampy, pestilential sea-coast is called, has a breadth, opposite Zanzibar, of one or two hundred miles, which must be traversed by slow stages, and where disease is contracted before the healthier upland is reached. On the west side of the continent, north of the Con- go, the sea-coast is everywhere low and swampy; dense mangrove thickets breed pestilential fevers. There is a wide belt of this miasma before the foot-hills are gained. With a slight break at the Cameroons, this is the character of the west coast from the Congo, around the Bight of Biafra and the Bight of Benin and the Gulf of Guinea to Cape Palmas and north of Cape Mount clear up to the Sene- gal. From the Congo, southward, begins a change. South of this oceanic estu- ary the mangrove and the swamp mud disappear; shingle and sandy reaches commence, and scant vegetation covers the narrow border between the sea and the hills. Angola and Benguela, on this sandy sea-coast, are declared by Mon- teiro, who lived there many years, to be healthy. A short distance from the ocean the hills rise into the first plateau ; a little farther inland the loftier second plateau begins, and as you advance the scenery is so attractive that Commander Cameron, foot-sore and weary with his march across the continent, stopped, and gazed and gazed till he forgot himself, and imagined he was looking upon the parks and pas- tures of England. “ Neither poet, with all the wealth of word imagery,” he asserts, “ nor painter, with almost supernatural genius, could by pen or pencil do full justice to the country of Bailunda.” 1 “ In all tropical Africa,” says Major de Serpa Pinto, 15, 16, 22, 29. The Lands of Cazembe, by Burton, Beadle, and Beke (which has an Index, as very strangely the other books do not have). Stanford’s Compendium , “ Africa,” chapter 24. Circular of M. le Comte d’An- drada, addressed to M. Bocande, containing the text (in French) of the Concession of the Portuguese Govern- ment, and the organization and by-laws of the Syndicate. L'Afrique Explorie , etc., for July, 1879, p. 21, article on “ Compagnie Generale du Zambeze.” Engineering, a London illustrated weekly journal, date of April 11, 1879, pp. 310, 31 1. 1 Across Africa, ii., 230. 19 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa. “this is the territory most suitable for European colonization. Bihk, forming the southern limit of the Benguelan highlands, stands five thousand feet above the level of the sea, and possesses great advantages in its salubrity and its commer- cial and agricultural capabilities, which highly recommend it to European atten- tion.” i The next great consideration in favor of this region is, that there seems to be more approach to a large compact kingdom than in most places. The king of Bih& appears to be a great personage. His capital, Kagnombe, was the largest town Cameron found in crossing the continent, and Cameron passed through Mpwapwa, and Mirambo’s town, Ujiji and Nyangwd, and other great centers. The two first things to be sought for in a mission field, say those of largest ex- perience in African missions, are a healthy locality and a compact and popu- lous tribe. Livingstone makes healthiness the one essential. But another main obstacle to permanent results is the fact that Africa is covered with petty tribes, which are isolated and shifting, and have no mutual coherence. This is both cause and consequence of slave-stealing forays. “ It may be fairly accepted,” says Mr. Hutchinson , 2 “that the obstacles which have barred the spread of a higher civilization in West Africa have been mainly two : first, the deadly climate ; and, second, the politically incoherent, unstable character of the people, caused partly by the disintegrating influence of the slave-trade.” Sir Bartle Frere quotes and confirms this declaration. As to healthiness, Bihe, if accounts can be trusted, would seem to be pre- eminent. As to having within reach a numerous population likely to spread the Gospel when they receive it, it also seems to be preeminent. “ Biheans,” says Major de Serpa Pinto, “traverse the continent from the equator to the Cape of Good Hope. I have visited many tribes who had never before seen a white man, but I never met with one who had not come in contact with the inhabitants of Bihe. Great expeditions depart from there carrying merchandise.” It is a third consideration in favor of Bihe that through it the central barbarism will be attacked on its western side. Many and great societies are working in from the east ; only two are working from the west, and they are but just beginning, and both are on the Congo. Through Benguela there is an open approach to a region which no other society, as far we know, is occupying, though it is vast enough to employ the energies of several societies. A fourth consideration in favor of Bihk is that it seems one of the most feasi- ble points from which to reach the regions beyond. A mission on the Bihean uplands should be with the view of pushing on, in due time, as the caravans push on into the interior. The predominant power of Central Africa has long been re- puted to be that of Muato Yanvo, in Ulanda and Urua. For generations of travelers, Muato Yanvo and the Cazembe have been names to conjure with ; they are the Great Moguls and the Prester Johns of Africa. The country ad- joining Bih& is Kibokwa; then comes Lovalla, both dependencies of Muato Yanvo’s, whose capital at present seems to be Kibebe, in Ulunda. In this heart of the dark continent it is that Cameron describes the ghastly savagery which ac- companies the burial of a chief : a river turned from its bed, a pit dug, the bottom covered with living women, over these, as a platform, one woman planted, on her hands and knees, and on her back the corpse of the dead man, supported by his wives, crouching around him ; then the earth shoveled in, while fifty male slaves are slaughtered and their blood poured over it, before the river is brought back to its desecrated bed. It would be preaching to spirits in prison to preach the Gospel here. The access to this field of Bihe is easy, and if it should be determined upon, 1 Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, August, 1879, p. 482. 2 Jourttal of Society of Arts, June, 1876, p. 90. 20 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa. in case further information justifies the favorable accounts, the preliminary ex- plorations could be made at less cost and the station be formed in less time prob- ably than anywhere else. Ocean steamers make quick communication between Natal and Cape Town, and between Cape Town and Benguela, so that with affinity of race and of language the Zulu Mission might, doubtless, be turned to advan- tage here at light cost. There is a constantly-traveled route in from Benguela. The Coanza River has a line of steamboats on it, the basin of the river is now being scientifically explored to its source, and charts, on a large scale, giving minute topographical features, are publishing by the explorers of the Berlin So- ciety. Dr. Nachtigal, president of the Geographical Society and of the African Society at Berlin, who traversed the Sahara and Soudan, and who now kindly puts us in possession of the charts as fast as they are issued, and of the results of the German explorers, urges that the region of the Coanza be occupied at once by Christian teachers. The considerations to be weighed against what seems favorable in this region are : that Portuguese influence has been exercised here, and that the Portuguese gov- ernment is enlarging its authority as far and as fast as possible ; that, at any rate, Bihe must be reached through Portuguese territory ; that it has been, and doubt- less still is, a great slave-trading region ; and, most important of all, to be kept in mind, that as yet our information is very imperfect as to the physical and the moral characteristics of the country and the people, especially as to their sus- ceptibility to improvement and readiness to receive Christian teachers . 1 It is recommended that in view of the reported healthfulness, accessibility, and density of population in and about Bihe, in Western Central Africa, and in view of the fact that no other missionary society has begun labors in that quarter, specific explorations be undertaken at the discretion of the Prudential Committee, with a view to the establishment of a mission in the region named, should further in- quiries confirm the information already received ; also, that investigations be con- tinued with regard to the Portuguese Concession on the Zambesi for the possible establishment of a mission there, in case the region of Bihb prove impracticable. The Special Committee of the Board on the foregoing paper, reported through Rev. Dr. E. P. Goodwin, Chairman, as follows : — “ The Committee desires, first of all, to express, in behalf of the Board, what they believe is the universal feeling of obligation to Dr. Means for his most interesting, instructive, and in every way admirable, presentation of facts relating to Africa. Only those can fully ap- preciate what a peculiar thesaurus of information it is who have had occasion to know how exceedingly difficult it has been to obtain accurate knowledge respecting this great conti- nent. Like other papers presented in other years before this Board, this will take certain rank with the highest authorities for its compendious and accurate embodiment of a mass of facts relative to geography, ethnology, natural history, climatology, etc., not elsewhere to be found, and which the scholars of the world so especially prize. “ As it seems to your Committee, there can hardly be but one opinion as to the wisdom 1 Angola and the River Congo, by Joachim John Monteiro, Associate of the Royal School cf Mines, and Corresponding Member of the Zoological Society. Two vols., with Maps and Illustrations. 1875, pp. x. 305 ; vi. 340. Livingstone, Travels in South Africa, chapters 19-23. Cameron, Across Africa, vol. i., chapters 1-17, 18, 19. Stanford, Compendium , “ Africa,” chapters 21, 26. Major de Serpa Pinto’s “ Journey across Africa,” Proceedings of Royal Geographical Society, August, 1879, pp. 481 seq. Major de Serpa Pinto informed us that his account of his journey, in two volumes, was to be ready for publication by Messrs. Macmillan, of London, before Christmas. In Mittheilungen der Afrikanischen Gesellschaft in Deutsch- land, Heft iii. June, 1879, is a long paper, the last date of which is March 7, 1879, on Loanda and the Co- anza, by Dr. Buckner, of the German exploring party, pp. 133-161- Dr- Buckner speaks as favorably of the climate as does Monteiro: “On the whole, one may well say that Loanda [he refers to the city of St. Paul], not merely for a West African city, but even for a tropical city, is remarkably healthy,” page 140. 21 The Proposed Mission in Central Africa. of the occupancy, as soon as is practicable, of such a field in Central Africa as that which this paper recommends. Such a vivid setting forth of the vastness and the hitherto un- known and undreamed-of resources of this imperial realm ; such surprising testimony as to the salubrity of the climate ; such forcible statements as to the teeming populations of the various districts, and of the cruelties and debasing, bloody superstitions which everywhere pre- vail among them ; such proofs, nevertheless, of the vigor and sturdiness, and even nobleness of some of these heathen tribes ; these facts, as they are here presented, combine to make an appeal to which it seems impossible that all Christian hearts should not make instant and enthusiastic response. Indeed, before such recitals, emphasizing so powerfully the urgent demands and peculiar opportunities of so many African fields for the introduction of the gospel, it is a very hardship that we should be limited to a single opening. “ Your Committee feel that there is a special providence in the bringing before this Board at this time the new enterprise which this paper proposes. “ I. First, the fact that the commerce of the world has its eyes on Africa, and is already fitting out its expeditions for traffic, is most significant. All experience'goes to show that when the Gospel has to follow trade, it has to face a double foe : not only the devils of paganism, which are bad enough, but the worse devils of an unprincipled and corrupt civilization. It is a matter of history, that the foremost obstacles which Christianity had to meet in China, in India, in the Sandwich Islands, were the deceit, the knavery, the un- scrupulous selfishness, the vices, which the commerce of Christian lands planted in its path. It will be an incalculable gain to have the start from the outset ; that if the gospel can get the ear of these native African princes before the trader does, who cares for nothing but greed, others, like that noble, half- Christian Mtesa, may want translations of the Scrip- tures for State purposes, and may even join hands, as he is like to, with our missionaries in ridding their lands of the vices of heathenism. And such opportunities we cannot certainly afford to lose. 2. Then, again, the evangelization of Africa has peculiar claims upon American Chris- tians. Whatever the horrors of the slave trade as it exists to-day among these African tribes, some part of the responsibility lies unquestionably at our doors. The supplies for cotton-fields, and rice-fields, and sugar-plantations, for generations, torn ruthlessly from their tropic homes, if not under the disguise of a so-called Christianity, at least under the banner of a Christian nation ; the memories of the middle passage, with its un- told atrocities and abominations, lay upon us a debt of obligation which we ought never to forget. We can make no reparation, it is true, for the wrongs and shames of the slave- trade. But one thing we can do. For as many years as American ships tracked the seas with curses and blood, in the interest of American slavery, we can keep them re-tracking it with Bibles, and missionaries, and prayers, and songs of jubilee, in the interest of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the evangelization of Africa. 3. Then there is, besides, as the paper itself incidentally shows, the promise of a pe- culiar success in the work proposed. Should the field, which the paper names, be finally chosen, it will be easily and cheaply accessible ; characteristically healthful ; so situated as to other missions as to secure their hearty cooperation, while at the same time it greatly strengthens the hands of those therein engaged. Furthermore, by reason of the peculiar compactness and permanency of the people and their relation to other tribes of the in- terior, or among the chief carriers of the inter-continental trade, it will serve as a grand strategic point, and tend to insure the rapid and wide diffusion of the gospel into the re- gions beyond. Then, best of all, this proposal sounds a very bugle call for that perpetual advance in our Christian enterprises to which the last command of Christ so emphatically looks — a command that as to giving, praying, toiling, lets no church, no disciple, rest while there is one unevangelized nation or one unsaved soul. The Committee, therefore, recommend that the paper be approved, and that the Pru- dential Committee continue the inquiries already set on foot, with the understood pur- pose of establishing the mission proposed at the earliest practicable day.