0.. /r*. o^ •j#'^ ^^ ttxe ®Hw%ta| ^ %: PRINCETON, N. J. *A t« Purchased by the Hamill Missionary Fund. BV 3500 .N3 1905 Naylor, William S. 1864- Daybreak in the Dark continent MESSENGERS OF THE GOSPEL OF LIGHT BISHOP SAMUEL A. CROWTHER, NIGER TERRITORY KING KHAMA, BECHUANALAND PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE CONGO I The %y orward Ivlissiun Study EDITED UNDER THE AUSPICES O nr: tOUNG PEOPLE'S MISSfONAPY A\ Davbreak he Dark Contin 't '* C%M 3UT if ive wa/k in the^liyfu, a.f he in -^-^ in the light, we have feUmvship one with another, and the bhod of Jesus Christ his Son deatuteth ns from nil sin.** — I John i:7. e^ Young People's Missionary Movement New York ^4 OF IHl .'L A. cnowT — ^' The Forward Mission Study Courses EDITED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT Daybreak in the Dark Continent WILSON S. NAYLOR Beach Professor of Biblical Literature Lawrence University ^ Young People's Missionary Movement New York Copyright, 1905, by The Young People's Missionary Movement To THE AFRICANS WHO AFTER NINETEEN CHRISTIAN CENTURIES ARE STILL WITHOUT HOPE AND WITHOUT GOD In THE World, AND TO THE MEN AND WOMEN who, obeying the great commission, Will in This Twentieth Century bear to them The Gospel Message. INTRODUCTORY NOTE One of the great features of the mission- ary revival, with which the new century opens, is the determination that the Church shall study, seriously and systematically, the countries and peoples where and among whom missions are to be maintained, and the methods best adapted to evangelize them. Forms of government, racial pecu- liarities, religious beliefs, degrees of intel- ligence, and many other factors are to be considered, not only in the judging of a people, but also in the plans proposed for their improvement. The more intelligent the Church becomes concerning all mis- sion fields — their environment, difficulties, methods, discouragements, and results — the more surely will conscientious and sys- tematic giving increase, and the more cer- tainly will the higher life of service among God's people be advanced. The title of this book. Daybreak in the Daek Continent, is suggestive of the pres- ent conditions in Africa. Many wonderful vi Introductory Note things have come to pass in these first hours of God's day for Africa. Explora- tion has done its principal work as to the main features of the continent, and now the details are being rapidly completed. Medical science is mastering the causes and remedies of malarial diseases. Every phase of industrial activity is advancing rapidly. International diplomacy has practically completed the blocking out of continental colonial empires. The native blacks are being tested as linguists, teach- ers, men of business, laborers, and Chris- tians, and are proving that they have great capabilities for success when properly un- derstood and assisted. Christian missions are everywhere being recognized as power- ful, permanent and necessary factors in the uplift of the people. Marvelous results in so brief a time ! Still, in the presence of what remains to be done, they are only the first rays in the eastern sky, heralding the coming day. The author is exceptionally well qualified to write on Africa. In addition to extended previous and subsequent research, he spent a year, as my traveling companion, dili- gently studying at first hand (on both coasts and in widely separated sections) Introductory Note vii the continent and its people. He has the heart of a missionary, he is without racial prejudices, and were it not for clearly prov- idential reasons, he would now be with me on his way to give his life to that foreign field. That he has done his work well I feel quite sure will be the opinion of all who read and study these pages. The marvel is that so many panoramic and yet intelli- gent views of great events, unsolved prob- lems, and historic movements, so much in- formation on so many questions as to races, customs, politics, and missionary outlook, could have been grouped in so few pages. One of the chief values of the book will be its suggestiveness. No one can read it, es- pecially if there be a thoughtful and pray- erful interest, without being anxious to know more about the great continent and its people just emerging into new light and hope, and without being eager to have some part in the blessed work of the redemption of Africa. (Bishop) J. C. Haktzell. On the Sea, January 20, 1905. A PERSONAL WORD It is quite as essential that a reader should understand the point of view of a book before readini^ it as that one should see a painting from the point where light, angle, and distance combine for the best effects. An important feature of the viewpoint of the present volume is that Africa is treated as a unit, an enormous unit. As Frederic Perry Noble says, ^^ Africa is not a coun- try. It is a continent. It is equivalent to six continents. It is a world in itself." Perhaps the desire to transmit to others my own impression of the immensity of Africa may be indicated by citing a reason for uniformly using the third person in the following chapters, even when making use of personal experiences or of incidents which came under my observation. 1 feared that to suspend the vision of Africa as a whole in order to magnify even mo- mentarily some little fraction which I had personally touched might detract from the ix X A Personal Word vision of the great continental total. After all, it is not so much whether one reiterates his personal relation to what he tells as whether he maintains the attitude of one who sees what he relates. 1 have therefore hoped that, having personalized by a tour of the continent my library acquaintance with its history, natural features, political conditions, peoples, and customs, I might be able in some measure to communicate a personal flavor to the entire book. The chief characteristic of the viewpoint of these pages is man : man as he is found in Africa. Everything that does not have a definite and vital relation to the present- day African is subordinated or eliminated. Further, consideration of the African is centered upon his religious life ; what that life is before Christianity affects it; what it is and may become under the influence of Christianity. It is religious Africa in the broadest sense that is the perspective of this little volume. Since the influence of authorities which strongly affect the viewpoint may be so subtle as not to permit of reference in the text or foot-notes, it is most fitting that I should here mention my indebtedness to Arthur Silva White, Development of A Personal Word xi Africa; J. Scott Keltie, Partition of Africa; Robert H. Nassau, Fetichism in West Africa, and Frederic Perry Noble, Redemption of Africa, These four are the English classics on physical, political, and religious (Pagan and Missionary) Africa. Mary H. Kingsley's entertaining works on African travel, Robert Brown's elaborate story of African exploration, and Stan- ford's compendium of African geography also have been prime factors in filling out the background of this study. The most important of the many other books from which tribute has been levied are referred to in the foot-notes or are included in the bibliography. It is with peculiar pleasure and gratitude that I make the following acknowledg- ments: To African missionaries; to the secretaries of mission boards, and particu- larly to the Editorial Committee of the Young People's Missionary Movement, for suggestive and corrective criticisms, which have shown a rare degree of painstaking discrimination; to Bishop Hartzell, who in- troduced me to the great world of Africa, and whose influence with government offi- cials and natives in various parts of the continent was of invaluable service in xii A Personal Word speeding and deepening my personal ac- quaintance with conditions and problems; lastly and chiefly to one whose constant and invaluable helpfulness, from the first day until now, in reading, suggestion, criti- cism, revision, and even in occasional com- position, has made it possible for me, under the pressure of other duties, to prepare this volume at all, and who, because bearing my name, with characteristic self-effacement, will not permit hers to be used as joint author. Wilson S. Naylor. Appleton, Wisconsin, June 1, 1905. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. The Dark Continent xv II. Dark Peoples AND Their Customs 37 III. A Religion of Darkness 75 IV. What of the Night? 105 V. The Morning Cometh! 139 VI. The Religion of Light 165 VII. Heralds of the Dawn 205 VIII. Daybreak 249 Appendix A — Chronological TxVble 287 Appendix B — Bibliography 295 Appendix C — Statistical Tables 300 Religious Divisions of Africa 304 Specimens of Bible Translations into African Dialects 305 Index 307 xiii LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS Messengers of, the Gospel Frontispiece. Relief Map of Africa Following page 12 Various Methods of Constructing Native Huts Facing page 62 Charms AND Fetiches ** " 85 Industrial Missions " " 131 Medical Missions " •' 152 Educational Missions " '• 171 The American Mission Training College, As- SIUT, Egypt Facing page 194 Evangelistic Missions ** " 241 Transformation of Home Life " ** 271 Out of Darkness into Light— West Africa. Facing page 279 Map Showing Distribution of Religions in Africa Facing page 110 Map of Africa— 1805-1905 End of Book xiv THE DAEK CONTINENT I view the end of the geographical feat as the be- ginning of the missionary enterprise. David Livingstone. THE DARK CONTINENT The Dark Con- tinent The term ' ' Dark Continent, ' ' applied to Africa by Stanley, has a threefold applica- tion. Africa, until the nineteenth century, was the one continent whose vast interior, so far as geographical certainties are con- cerned, lay in unpenetrated darkness. It is the one continent whose population is composed almost entirely of dark peoples. It is the one continent whose native relig- ion is without sacred writings and definite systems ; a religion whose followers are but wanderers in ^'the blackness of darkness." The present chapter has to do with the breaking of the day of geographical knowl- edge and with the development of the con- tinent. Accurate knowledge of Africa before the 5f *?'*f, *^^^ ° Christian Era Christian era included only the regions along the Mediterranean and Eed Sea coasts, Egypt^ the Nile, the Great Desert, and the Ethiopian territory centering in Meroe on the Upper Nile. It is clear, how- ever, that reliable information concerning 1 The Gold of Opliir and tlie 2 Daybreak in the Dark Continent the far interior did sometimes reach the coast. Maps from about 500 B.C. show re- markable accuracy, considering that they were guesswork, in locating the" Mountains of the Moon" at the headwaters of the Nile. A Greek writer of the fourth century B.C., also depending upon hearsay, mentions great lakes as the source of that river. The gold-bearing region of southeast Af- phoeuicians ^[q^ jg j^q^ regarded by many careful schol- ars as identical with the Ophir of Solo- mon's time.^ There are ruins in the same section of South Africa which point to the ancient occupation of that part of the conti- nent by people other than the ancestors of the present race, the evidence being all but conclusive that these people were Phoeni- cians.^ In the light of modern knowledge of the earth's surface it is also quite certain that the continent was circumnavigated by the Phoenicians, although the ancient histo- rian who records the story doubts its truth." But whatever the correctness of these present-day conjectures, the fact remains that the ancient world was little the wiser for the voyages of gold hunters, colonists, and explorers. ^Hall and Neal, Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia. ^A. Wilmot, Monomotapa. ^Rawlinson's Herodotus, IV: 42. The Dark Continent 3 For the most part popular notions were ^^^^^^ exceedingly indefinite, and Ethiopia con- indefinite tinned to be an all-inclusive term for the unknown or little known regions beyond the more familiar North African points. Hero- dotus, the Greek historian of the fifth cen- tury B.C., reflects the current thought not only of his own time but of many cen- turies thereafter. AVitli ample elasticity he sets the bounds of the country: ^^ Where the meridian declines toward the setting sun the Ethiopian territory reaches, being the extreme part of the habitable world." He is impressed with the products of the land and with the stalwart inhabitants, for he adds : " It produces much gold, huge ele- phants, wild beasts of all kinds, ebony, and men of large stature, very handsome and long-lived.' As if to make room for all its people. Homer says : ' ' The populations of Ethiopia, the most remote in the world, live some toward the rising and others to- ward the setting sun."' Scarcely anything was added to geo- pf^^^^^/^^* *** graphical certainties until the fifteenth cen- centuries tury after Christ. It is true that the Ara- bian invasion of the seventh century scat- ^Rawlinson's Herodotus, III: 114. 2The Odyssey, 1 : 22-25. 4 Daybreak in the Dark Continent tered a host of foreigners throughout North Africa, but although their influence upon all succeeding African history has been of vital importance because of its bearing upon the question of Africa for Christ or for Mohammed/ their contribu- tion to the world's knowledge of their adopted continent was slight. The fif- teenth century brought the dawn of mod- ern enterprise. An era of discovery followed. Prince Henry Portugal, iu the person of Prince Henrv tbe Naviprator o 7 i anti West Coast tlic Navigator (1394-1460), took the lead in the West Coast exploration of Africa. In the face of obstacles that would have discouraged a less determined character, Prince Henry pushed his mariners as far south as the west Guinea Coast. His zeal for discovery, and his energetic, scientific methods, far in advance of his age, have given him a place among the world's great- est explorers. Added to this is a fact which should make his name doubly honored by Christians — the fact that Prince Henry was the pioneer of those missionary ex- plorers who, 400 years later, were to per- ^The author's preference would be for the spelling Muhammad, Muslim, Kopt, Kongo, but the forms "Which are still popularly prevalent for thase words are used throughout the book. The Dark Continent 5 form some of the supreme feats in Afri- can discoveries. After Prince Henry's death Portugal ^^'»^ *** ^**«** continued explorations southward until the continent was rounded (1487) by Bartholo- mew Diaz. Diaz called the southernmost point the Cape of Storms, because of the extremely rough weather encountered there. But his patron, King John II, would have none of it. '^Nay," said he, *^the Cape of Good Hope shalt thou forever be named, for by this cape shall we sail to India." Ten years later Vasco da Gama fulfilled this prophecy, and made the long- hoped-for new route to India a fact (1497-98). Da Gama's voyage gave him the oppor tunity of touching at points on the east coast coast. He reached one of these ports on Christmas Day and therefore named it, and the surrounding country as well. Natal, in commemoration of the nativity of our Lord. The outline of the continent was now outnne of con- tinent IvnovFii accurately known. There was also the certainty of a great river (the Congo) other than the Nile, although any state- ment as to the upper reaches and sources of either was pure conjecture. The Vasco ila Gama and tlie E^aHt Daybreak In the Dark Continent whole interior was still shrouded in darkness. prester joiin, ^^^g [j^ i]^q fifteenth centurv a fanciful Abyssinia, and ^ _ "^ tiie Portuguese gtorj that had been gaining ground for many years — a story of a wonderful Chris- tian state, presided over by a great Chris- tian prince — led the Portuguese to under- take a pilgrimage to Abyssinia, the region over which ''Prester John" was believed to hold his sway. The Prester John tale was proved false, but the Portuguese, in quest of the marvelous, were the first to enter into negotiations (1520) with that interesting country whose present king is Menelik, ''King of Kings of Ethiopia." The English, French, and Dutch, quick to see the advantage of the commerce which the Portuguese were establishing with Af- rica, were themselves before the close of the sixteenth century carrying on a brisk trade with the West Coast tribes. The so- called "grains of paradise,"^ ivory, gold, and slaves were accounted the most profit- able cargoes. Hence the names Grain Coast, Ivory Coast, Gold Coast, Slave Coast, as applied to the different sections ^The spicy seeds, "grains of paradise," were much, in demand in Europe. Rivals to Por- tuguese The Dark Continent European tlenients of the Guinea Coast, indicate the charac- ter of the trade from each section. Settlements by the Portuguese on the Guinea Coast, at the mouth of the Congo, and in East Africa had followed in the wake of their discoveries. Such settlements were naturally" supplemented by those of other nationalities as the trade of each in- creased. During the seventeenth century more and permanent settlements were ef- fected, including those along the Gambia by the English, along the Senegal by the French, and in South Africa by the Dutch. Yet, notwithstanding the considerable ^^*p Making knowledge of coast regions gained through European traders and residents, the maps of the period reflect an absolute ignorance concerning the vast bulk of the interior. As no facts were available, fancy supplied details, and sketches of palaces and strange animals did dut}^ for physical features. Individual efforts toward interior ex- ploration had been made from time to time after Prince Henry's day. Practically all of these had started in from the West Coast, and all had met with varied, though slight, success. But in 1768 James Bruce, a Scotchman, succeeded in reaching Abys- Set- Individual Ef- forts toTvard Interior Ex- ploration The African Association 8 Daybreak in the Dark Continent sinia, where he remained for five years/ He it was who gave the first extended infor- mation abont that country. Among other experiences of special value to geographers was a visit to the headwaters of one of the Abyssinian tributaries of the Nile.' Another event of great importance to Africa occurred in the eighteenth century. This was the organization (1788) of the * 'African Association," whose aim was the undertaking and directing of systematic, scientific exploration. The time for better methods had arrived, and an organization had promise of larger success than could be reached through the efforts of travelers, adventurers and traders, valuable and praiseworthy though these had been. In- dividual exceptions there were later, how- ever, notable among them being Living- stone's and Stanley's first expeditions. The marvelous results of the explorations of the nineteenth century proved the wis- dom of the pioneer organization, whose mission was later taken up by the Royal Geographical Society of London. * James Bruce, Travels and Discoveries in Abyssinia. ^Bruce's visit to the headwaters of the Blue Nile scarcely can be classed among discoveries. Jesuit missionaries, a century before, were the real dis- coverers. The Dark Continent 9 The methods inaugurated by the African Scientific . . . Exploration Association were pursued by its successors until the entire interior was mapped out. Instead of scattering efforts, expedition after expedition was centered upon each unknown section until each was at least roughly explored. It took precisely a century (1788-1888) ExpI^ora«on **' to accomplish these explorations. Thus from 1788 to 1830, West Africa, north of the Guinea Coast and east to Lake Tchad, with particular reference to the discovery of the sources of the Niger and the follow- ing of its puzzling course, was the field of operations. The discovery of snow-capped peaks in East Africa, and of the great lakes and their relation to the Nile; Living- stone's extensive explorations in South Africa, his journey from Linyanti in South Central Africa to St. Paul de Loanda on the West Coast, his return across the con- tinent to the East Coast, and his discov- ery of th^ Zambezi Eiver and its magnifi- cent Victoria Falls resulted from the en- deavors of the years between 1830 and 1862. From 1862 to 1876 the headwaters and course of the Congo were the objects of search.^ From 1876 to 1887 nothing of ^It is diflficult for the younger generation to realize lo Daybreak in the Dark Continent Reliable Geograpliieal Inforiuatioii Exploration mot Minute importance was attempted. In the latter year Stanley undertook his third and final expedition, the iCmin Pasha Relief. He crossed the continent from west to east — his second transcontinental exploit — and reached the Abyssinian coast in 1888. Reliable information regarding the hith- erto unknown, or dimly known, interior was at last available. Mountains, lakes, and rivers all became real, and the proper posi- tion of each became manifest. The maps of Africa were no longer imaginary cartoons, but fairly accurate drawings. It must not be understood that explora- tion has been minute. There are still large districts about which little or nothing of detail is known, but taken as a whole the 13icture may be said to be complete. The sketching is all finished, the background all in. Nothing is lacking except the final deli- cate touches. Size of Africa Qf jj]]^ fhc coutiueuts Africa is second in size to Asia alone. With the islands, Mada- gascar, the Madeiras, the Canaries, and .the recentness of the opening up of Africa. Stanley's journey down the Congo was not finished until 1877. The End. Brit, (ninth ed.) in an article evidently written in 1874 says, "The equatorial region of dense forests in Central Africa is still one of greatest terrae 'incognitas of the globe." The Dark Continent II others, Africa has about 11,500,000 square miles of territory to Asia's 16,000,000. Africa is about three times the size of Eu- rope, and about half again larger thaii either South or North America. A striking comparison between the size of Africa and that of other continents has been made by Bishop Hartzell : ^ ' There is room enough on the lower end of the continent for the 12 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Surface Mountains whole of the United States with her 82,- 000,000 of people ; Europe, with her many states and hundreds of millions, can be placed on one side of Central Africa; China, with her 400,000,000 could be ac- commodated on the other half of Central Africa, and there is room for all India, and Wales, Scotland and Ireland in the lower valley of the Nile and along the coasts of the Mediterranean; while there is plenty of room for Porto Rico and the Philippines on the island of Madagascar." Low-lying coast land borders the conti- nent, extending back in varying distances of a mile or less to two or three hundred miles. Rising from these coastal lands, gradu- ally increasing and often steep elevations form a series of narrow plateaus all around the continent, until the great continental plateau is reached. It is as if enormous encircling steps led up to an immense cen- tral platform of uneven surface, moun- tains, lakes, and rivers making decided breaks in the level. The outer rim of this continental plateau, made up of the successive plateaus ascend- ing from the coastal lands, might be com- pared to a buttressed castle wall, irregular in outline and height, with mountains serv- ^ J^ 41 >> 5 9 tfi >> 5 =i » o) _, "T a > > t- g ^ ^ s 5 ^ c r, C =3 ° ;:3 Is 5 5 5 r ¥ 2^ The Dark Continent 13 ing as battlements. The seaward face of this rim is often so abrupt and broken that it forms low mountain ranges, such as those of Lower Guinea. Indeed, practically all African mountains are but elevations along the edge of the upper plateau. The Atlas range in northwest Africa is not fully ex- plored, but is known to include mountains of commanding height. In East Africa, near the equator, are the volcanic peaks of Kenia, Kilima-Njaro, and Ruwenzori. These are the highest mountains in Africa^ Kilima-Njaro exceeding 19,000 feet. To the north is the mountainous section of Abyssinia, and to the south and southwest the Drakenberg and other ranges. Kam- erun Mountain on the West Coast, like the peaks in the east, is volcanic. The greatest lakes are in East Central ^^^^« Africa, Victoria Nyanza,' Tanganyika, and Nyasa being the largest. The waters of these three lakes are among the sources of supply for three of the four great rivers of Africa — the Nile, the Congo,^ and the Zam- • bezi. Victoria Nvanza takes world rank as 'Nyanza means lake. -Tanganyika is not regularly a reservoir of the Congo. In recent times, only at the overflow during seasons of excessive rains do its waters reach the Congo. 14 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Rivers The Nile a fresh water lake, since only Lake Superior is larger. Lake Tanganyika's extreme width is not more than forty miles, but it is the longest fresh water lake in the world. Nyasa also is narrow, and is not as long as Tanganyika by seventy miles. Aside from the lakes of East Africa there are those which are self-contained, that is, those which receive streams but have no outlet to the sea. Lake Tchad in north Central Africa is the largest of these. The three great rivers mentioned drain almost the entire southern and eastern por- tions of the continental plateau, while the fourth, the Niger, drains the southern por- tion of West Africa above the Guinea Coast. Africa's plateau formation is the occasion of rapids and cataracts in all of the rivers. These occur as the rivers flow from the higher levels of the upper plateau down through the lower levels to the sea. The Nile is the longest of the four rivers. The annual overflow, its peculiar charac- teristic, results in making a fertile valley of what otherwise would be barren land. The artificial reservoir built on the Upper Nile is of immense advantage to the pro- ductivity of Egypt in that it assures a more The Dark Continent 15 equal annual water supply to the lower river. The Niger, unlike the other rivers, has no great lake as a feeder, but its sources are supplied by an abundant rainfall. Neither is its lower course so much hin- dered by steep descents, as is particularly true of the Congo and the Zambezi. Rapids are therefore less numerous — a fact of sig- nificance to commerce. Of all the rivers the Congo is the most important. It drains an area rich in valu- able forests and of amazing fertility. Stan- ley Falls and the cataracts of the lower river are serious obstacles to navigation, but, on the other hand, there are 1,000 miles of superb waterway between Stanley Pool and Stanley Falls, while the entire Congo system includes at least 10,000 miles of navigable streams. The possibilities of a country penetrated by such a river system are well nigh incalculable, as are the op- portunities it afPords for comparatively easy access to the native populations of Central Africa. The Zambezi is the shortest of the rivers, though it exceeds the Nile in volume. By its junction with the Shire Elver it com- pletes the water connection between Lake Tlie Niger Tlie Congro The Zambesi 1 6 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Nyasa and the Indian Ocean. When the time comes for a line of railway past the rapids of the Shire Eiver/ the Zambezi will have a large part in the speedier develop- ment of the lake country, and will also af- ford a readier access from the malarial coast levels to the higher, more healthful interior. Victoria PaiiH Victoria Falls, on the Zambezi, rivals Niagara in grandeur and excels it in mag- nitude. That the Bi'itish Scientific Asso- ciation should propose to hold a meeting in sight of these falls, a wonder of nature which fifty years ago was scarcely known, is noteworthy. The prospect of this meet- ing hastened the execution of plans for con- verting the section immediately adjacent to the falls into the likeness of a civilized land. Hotels, parks, roads, railroads, and bridges have been designed by experts in architec- ture, engineering, and landscape garden- ing, and have been made to comport with their surroundings, and not to intrude themselves upon the grandeur of creation. Smaller Rivers rj.^^^ Gambia and Senegal rivers are nav- igable streams of the Atlantic Coast. Since their discover}^ in the fifteenth century they have been of service in commerce and in ^Such a line of railway is now proposed. The Dark Continent 17 the develoiDment of the West African coun- try adjacent to them. The Limpopo and Orange rivers in South Africa are of some length. Almost all other rivers are the short coast streams which take their rise near the edge of the upper plateau. The Sahara Desert has an area about equal to that of the United States, includ- ing Alaska. This vast territory is not, however, one wide waste of sand. Besides the oases, there are semi-desert or steppe lands, highlands and rocky plateaus, a few mountains, and, for a part of the year, rivers and lakes. Vegetation is not, there- fore, confined wholly to oases. In South Africa is the Kalahari Desert. There are also desert and semi-desert lands in So- maliland and along the Eed Sea. The '^ savannahs " of the Sudan and southward throughout much of Central Af- rica are the grass lands of the continent. These savannahs differ from our prairies in that they are sparsely wooded, trees growing over them singly or in groves. On the lower plateau levels of East Africa and in the Zambezi neighborhood the savan- nahs become ^'veldts," and ^' kopjes'^ (iso- lated mounds) give variety to the land- scape. On the higher plateaus between the Deserts Savannabs Forests 1 8 Daybreak in the Dark Continent southern mountain ranges, where the rain- fall is scantier, are the "karroos," or dry lands. The soil permits of sufficient grass growth for excellent pasturage. In the Upper Congo basin, almost at the center of the savannah lands, and covering an area many thousands of square miles in extent, are dense tropical forests, with pro- fuse tangled undergrowth. Dense forests are also typical of the Upper and Lower Guinea coasts, and some mountainous re- gions are heavily timbered. Varied Climate Africa, Iviug largely in the torrid zone, has even in that zone a decidedly varied climate. Elevation is partly responsible for this variation. The southern arm of the continent, having a smaller area within the torrid belt, and also a higher average elevation, has a lower average temperature than the northern portion. The mountain summits of East Africa are covered with perpetual snow, while decreasing elevation means increasing temperature. Even in the Sahara there are extremes. The nights are cool and frosts are not unknown. Dis- tance from the sea also affects climate be- cause of difference in amount of moisture. The narrower southern portion of the con- tinent, again, has relatively a more abun- The Dark Continent 19 Temperature dant rainfall than has the northern sec- tion. The dense tropical forest regions of both are profusely watered. Over most of the continent rainy and dry seasons pre- vail, the length of each depending upon locality. South of ^ve degrees north latitude, ex- cept for a narrow strip along the East Coast, the temperature for the year aver- ages under 80 degrees, while north of that latitude the average is above 80 degrees, the hottest portions being in the western Sahara and Sudan, and in the Upper Nile valley and the adjacent desert. Outside of the torrid zone, in both North and South Africa, are regions whose temperature ranges under 72 degrees, while in some — Morocco, Algeria, and Cape Colony, for ex- ample — the range is under 64 degrees. Since the character of the products of a country depend upon its climate, African ^ontii Africa products range from the scant life of the desert to the abundance of a soil prodigal in fertility, and from tropical vegetation to that common to temperate climes. Only a suggestion of these various products may be given. The Mediterranean states yield, like Southern Europe, grapes, olives, figs, and the like. Esparto grass for paper- Prodncts of North, and Products of Tropical Africa 20 Daybreak in the Dark Continent making, though less used than formerly, is still largely exported, while the cork- oak forests of the Atlas mountains help to supply the cork market. The Nile valley grows cotton, sugar, rice, wheat, and other grains, and vegetables. South Africa, too, raises fine grapes, but otherwise crops such as wheat and corn are those more adapted to the generally cooler climate. In both North and South Africa grass lands supply pasturage for successful sheep and goat raising. In South Africa, at least, grazing predominates over farming. Os- trich culture is also a South African industry. The Sahara oases can always be de- pended upon for dates, while both the Sa- hara and Kalahari deserts furnish a scant living for wandering desert tribes and for their cattle. The savannah lands are adapted both to agriculture and to grazing. In the Sudan cattle raising is the chief occupation. In equatorial Africa anything suited to a tropical climate can be raised with a minimum of labor. Bananas, cas- sava, coffee, sugar, and other products thrive astonishingly. Scratch the soil, plant the seed, and await a full harvest. Such agricultural instruction may be a slight ex- The Dark Continent 21 aggeration, but it does not fall far below the mark. The upper Congo region and the forests of the Guinea coasts produce the oil-palm, rubber creepers, ebony, and mahogany in great abundance. The minerals of Africa include gold in ^^^^^'^^» the Upper Guinea Coast region, in south- east Africa in the Witwaters Rand of the Transvaal, in Ehodesia, and in German and British East Africa; diamonds in South Gold 2 2 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Africa/ the richest fields in the world being in the Kimberley district; silver in Abys- sinia, Nubia, and the Sudan; coal in South Africa, in the neighborhood of Victoria Falls,' and northward ; iron in Central Af- rica; copper in South and Central Africa, and both of the last named metals in the Atlas region. Salt is produced in deserts in the salt beds of the ''sliotts,"' those of the western Sahara yielding the largest quan- tities. With the exception of the gold and diamond fields, scarcely any of these min- eral deposits have been worked, so that the possibilities are enormous. The gold-bearing areas of the Guinea Coast, despite an already large output, are by no means exhausted, although South Africa has so far eclipsed the Gold Coast that less is heard of the latter. The south- east African gold region, supposed to be identical with Solomon's Ophir, is almost fabulously rich now. One vein in the Jo- hannesburg vicinity is forty miles long, ^The largest diamond ever discovered was found in South Africa in 1905. ^The coal vein discovered by Livingstone near Vic- toria Falls is now being mined by an English com- panj'. The vein varies from ten to thirty feet in thickness and is believed to be of vast extent. ^"Shotts" are lakes of desert and semi-desert re- gions. During a part of each year many of them are only salt-basins. The Dark Continent 23 from two to ^ve feet thick and, so far as it has been followed, extends in a slanting plane for a mile beneath the surface. Owing to the ivory trade elephants are ^^*^'^ decreasing in numbers. Formerly almost the whole great area southward from the Sahara was considered the ''ivory dis- trict." Elephants are still hunted, and ivory is still a staple of African commerce, but the amount diminishes yearly, and un- less sharp measures are taken to prevent the destruction of elephants, ivory, before many years, will be rare. The last quarter of the nineteenth cen- Afr/caTnro^n- tury saw Europe engaged in a partition of p^^*^^^"** the yet unclaimed territory of the conti- nent, and in the settling of boundary dis- putes. Since the days of Egypt's power no really great state has been maintained in Africa. It was therefore a compara- tively easy matter, and a natural sequence of many scores of years of coast occupa- tion by European nations, for these same nations gradually to assume more or less of control over the sections which later came to be reckoned as belonging within their several ''spheres of influence."^ ^"Spheres of influence," so-called, are those sec- tions which, because of physical boundaries, or pri- Africa in 1900 European Enterprise 24 Daybreak In the Dark Continent By the beginning of the present century agreements had been reached by the na- tions involved, and of the 11,500,000 square miles of African territory scarcely more than 2,000,000 remained that were not claimed by European powers. Indeed, Abyssinia and Liberia (with a combined area of 195,000 square miles), at the ex- treme east and west sides of the continent, comprise the only territory not directly or indirectly under foreign influence. The Congo Free State, whose boundaries in- clude almost the entire basin of the Congo River, is under the guardianship of the King of Belgium. Morocco is under an in- dependent sultan, but French domination in Morocco and Tripoli grows more and more pronounced. Egypt is only nominally under Turkish control, England really holding the reins of government. European enterprise is developing the continent. Improvements in a new coun- ority of entrance, or trade reasons, are, by mutual consent of the European Powers, resigned to the in- fluence of one particular Power. In distinction from sphere of influence is the "hin- terland." The hinterland is such a portion of the interior as lies adjacent to the coast "possession" of any Power, and is a natural adjunct to it. The prime object of the hinterland provision is that ready ac- cess to the interior may never be hindered by any other Power. The Dark Continent 25 tryare necessarily introduced by slow proc- esses, but considering the difficulties over- come progress in Africa is little short of marvelous. This is especially true of rail- RAILWAY MAP ProiecteH *" SJOf- road building. The Cape to Cairo rail- way is built southward to Khartum (1,300 miles) and northward to Victoria Falls (1,600 miles). When these termini are connected the road will be one of the most 26 Daybreak in the Dark Continent important transcontinental lines in the world. Likewise 300 miles of railroad up the Congo, connecting the lower river with the navigation of the middle river, are now in operation, and 900 miles more are pro- jected. There are several lines in South Africa, and a line from Mombasa on the East Coast to Uganda and the north shore of Victoria i^yanza.^ Other lines, in proc- ess of construction or completed, extend inland from the East and West coasts. The most recent project is the building of a rail- road from the junction of the Atbara with the Nile to the Eed Sea. This will furnish an important outlet for the Sudan trade, and will be a much less expensive means of transportation than is possible by the Nile railway. The completion of the Mombasa-Uganda railway was a triumph for American bridge builders, who, in spite of delayed materials and labor troubles, accomplished their share of the construction in half the time proposed by any competing com- pany. A genuine American Fourth of July celebration on the shores of Victoria Ny- anza was thus made possible in 1902, the 'It is planned to complete an important transconti- nental line east and west by connecting the Congo and the Mombasa-Uganda railways. The Dark Continent 27 initial trip over tlie new road having been completed upon that day/ The vast possibilities of future African commerce are hinted at in the size of figures relating to present trade while the continent is as yet in an undeveloped state. About $20,000,000 worth of diamonds are taken from the Kimberley mines each year, $350,000,000 worth being the output of un- cut stones (doubled in valuation when cut) since 1868. A total of $200,000,000 worth of gold has been exjjorted from the Gold Coast. The present annual gold produc- tion of South Africa is $50,000,000. In palm-oil exportation $2,500,000 was the figure reached in 1900 from British Nigeria alone. Besides these there is still a large trade in ivory, and an increasing trade in rubber, mahogany, ebony, wool, and other articles. Africa's foreign commerce, ex- ports and imports, amounted in 1901 to a grand total of $700,000,000.^ Of imports, intoxicating liquors take a balefully sig- nificant rank. The native demand for the things of civilization grows apace with the ^A. B. Lueder, WorWs Work, July, 1903. -This figure is deficient because complete statistics are not available. The figures in this paragraph are compiled from G. F. Williams, Diamond Mines of South Africa; E. D. Morel, Affai7's of West Africa; the Statesman's Year Book, and other standard works. Commercial Possibilities 28 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Tlie Native as a Factor Tlie Wliite Mail's Respon- sibility Tbe Cost Continent of a native contact with the white man, so that imports to tickle native fancy are more and more on the increase. Aside from these there are the large importations to the white population and the developing com- panies. Africa's importance to the world is de- pendent, however, not so much upon what the country possesses of natural resources, nor upon what it develops of domestic or foreign commerce, as upon what the native himself becomes. Africa, with its nearly 150,000,000 of na- tive population, is in a certain large sense under European control. The native is as yet incapable of self-government. There- fore, what the native is to become depends upon the white man. The white man holds the destiny of Africa in his hands for bet- ter or for worse. At a cost beyond all reckoning the con- tinent has passed from prehistoric dark- ness to twentieth century daybreak. It is estimated that of explorers over 600 died as a direct result of the death-dealing cli- mate and the consequent hardships of travel. Of missionaries the number is un- known, but in 1902 seven of the leading missionary societies in the United States The Dark Continent 29 furnished lists showing that the average length of service of the missionaries under their auspices had been eight years, and that since 1833 these seven societies had given 195 lives for Africa. When it is re- membered that these are but seven of the ninety-five societies working in Africa, one can form some idea of the cost in the lives of missionaries/ The roll of honor of those who, through the cen- turies, as conquerors, geographers, explor- ers, colonizers, missionaries, soldiers, statesmen, have contributed, bit by bit, here a little, there a little, to the sum total of knowledge concerning Africa, or to its present state of development, represents almost matchless achievements. Among the most illustrious of whatever calling, connected with African history, none stands out so majestic in his loneli- ness, so lofty in his purpose, so superb in his devotion, as does David Livingstone, the missionary explorer. Such tribute in no sense belittles the magnificent char- acter and work of others. It rather magnifies them. For to be in am^wise comparable to Livingstone in itself is praise. 'S. Earl Taylor, Price of Africa. David liiviiisstone 30 Daybreak in the Dark Continent ciiristiaii Mis- rj^j^^ iiiissionaiT element in the develop- Deveiopmeut ment of R countrv is apt to be overlooked of Africa . * ^ , or only slightingly mentioned. This can- not be done with any degree of fairness in connection with Africa. It is well here to call to mind the important part which Christian missions have had in Africa's history. Only thus will it be possible to understand why it is peculiarly a mission- ary continent, and why Christianity is the leading force in the molding of its savage tribes into civilized communities. But a few instances may be given. Prince Henry the Navigator was more than an eager ex- plorer. A part of his avowed purpose in undertaking his voyages was the conver- sion of the Negroes. Jesuit missionaries early in the seventeenth century discov- ered the sources of the Abai.^ Discoveries in East Africa made by Krapf and Eeb- mann during missionary tours led to the ex- plorations which resulted in the discovery of the great lakes, and of the Nile flowing out of Victoria Nyanza. Explorations in South and Central Africa are a monument to Livingstone's tireless energy. Grenfell of the Congo mission made the important discovery of the Ubangi Eiver. Macken- ^The Blue Nile. The Dark Continent 31 zie ^s influence was invaluable in promoting the extension of Great Britain's beneficent control over wide sections explored by Liv- ingstone. Indeed, the history of Christian missions in Africa forms part of the his- tory of the opening of the continent. The testimony of W. T. Stead' to British mis- sionary influence is applicable to all mis- sionary endeavor in Africa. "South Af- rica/' he says, "is the product of three forces — conquest, trade, and missions, and of the three the first counts for the least and the last for the greatest factor in the expansion of civilization in Africa. Missionaries have been everywhere the pio- neers of empire. The frontier has ad- vanced on the stepping-stones of mission- ary graves." Missionaries have given their lives, not pirpose****^*' for conquest, or glory, or personal gain, but that by advancing Africa's interests in every possible way they might by all means save some of Africa's people. They have been missionaries first and always. Statecraft has been a part of missionary labor. Explorations have been incident to missionary journeys made for the purpose of spying out the land, of ascertaining cen- ^Editor of the English Review of Reviews. 32 Daybreak in the Dark Continent ters of population, and of deciding upon suitable locations for stations; or, as was the case with Livingstone's explorations, of opening the continent to trade, civiliza- tion, and Christianity, that the slave traffic might be done away with and the people uplifted. Livingstone struck the keynote of his own and others' heroic work when he said, *^ As far as I myself am concerned, the opening of the new central country is a matter for congratulation only in so far as it opens up a prospect for the elevation of the inhabitants. I view the end of the geographical feat as the beginning of the missionary enterprise." Questions for Study. These questions have a twofold purpose : First, to assist the average student partly in reviewing the most important topics of the chapter and partly in thinking out fur- ther conclusions. Those marked * may serve as a basis for more extended thought and discussion. It is not to be expected that these should be answered without care- ful reflection. Second, to assist leaders of mission study classes in bringing out the points of the lesson. Leaders should rarely The Dark Continent 33 use the entire list in a single meeting, but should freely select, modify and supple- ment. In addition to the use of these ques- tions, they should not fail to obtain from their denominational boards helps contain- ing full suggestions for the conduct of each session of the class. QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER I Aim: To Examine the Signs of the Times for the Evangelization of Africa. I... How recently has Africa become well known? 1 How much of Africa was known by civilized peo- ples before the time of Christ? 2* How did the opportunity of the early Church for evangelizing Africa compare with ours? 3 What nation took the lead in exploring Africa after the Crusades? 4 What do you know of Prince Henry the Naviga- tor, and his successors? 5 How much was known of Africa in 1788? 6 Indicate on the map the progress of discovery since that time. 7 What great section was opened up less than thirty years ago? 8 From the standpoint of discovery, how does Africa rank in age among the continents? II... Why did it take so long to open up Africa? 9 In what part of Africa is low land found? where, high plateaus? where, mountains? 34 Daybreak in the Dark Continent 10 Was the first modern approach to equatorial Africa overland or from the sea? Why? 11 How was the progress of exploration affected by the lack of good harbors? 12 How, by the low-lying coast land? 13 How, by the fact that the ascent to the central plateau so soon confronted explorers? 14 What effect had this last fact on the waterways leading into the interior? 15 When Europeans had gained a foothold in healthy North and South Africa, what physical features hindered them from advancing into the conti- nent? 16* Compare the difficulties of exploring Africa with those of exploring North America. 17 What has the Church invested in the evangeliza- tion of Africa? 18 What do we owe to those who have overcome such difficulties? III. . .How has the prospect improved in the last fifty years f 19 When the edge of the inland plateau has been reached, are the difficulties equally great? 20 How does the healthfulness of the plateau com- pare with that of the coast? 21 What sort of waterways are the rivers of Africa when their lower rapids are past? 22 Look at the map and determine how the three great lakes will help to reach Central Africa. 23 What effect will short railroads from the coast to the plateau have upon transportation? what, upon health? 24 What effect will the European spheres of influ- ence have upon stability and order? 25 Will the death-rate of future travelers and set- tlers be as great as that of the earlier ones? Why not? The Dark Continent 35 26 After so much has been done, how will the prog- ress of the future probably compare with that of the past? lY... What is the attitude of the commercial an^ political world towards Africa and the African^ 27* How is the present age, as compared with the past, equipped for the development of Africa? 28 How will the touch of modern science affect the commercial value of the continent? 29 What part has the African to play in the develop- ment of the country? 30 Has civilized trade any regard for his best wel- fare? 31 Will it do him any real good without the gospel? 32 What will the liquor traffic do for him? 33 Should the Church lag behind the world in reach- ing him? 34 To the true Christian, what is the relation be- tween opportunity and responsibility? 35 What is our responsibility for Africa as com- pared with that of past generations? 36 Do the signs of the times indicate that the Chris- tian Church can afford to wait for another thirty years? References for Papers or Talks. I. . .Traveling in Africa. Blaikie — Personal Life of David Livingstone, Chs. vni, IX. Bryce — Impressions of South Africa, Chs-. XIII, XIV. Drummond — Tropical Africa, Chs. I, II. ^6 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Hannington — History of His Life and Work, Chs. Xni, XIV, XV. Hotchkiss — Sketches from the Dark Continent, Ch. I. James— The Wild Tribes of Sudan, Chs. I, H, X. Stanley — Through the Dark Continent, Vol. I, Ch. V; Vol. n, Ch. I. II. . .Climate. Blaikie — Personal Life of David Livingstone, pp. 100, 108, 115, 116. Bryce — Impressions of South Africa, pp. 6, 7, 11, 12, 35, 241, 281. du Plessis — A Thousand Miles in the Heart of Af- rica, Chs. Ill, IV. Noble — Redemption of Africa, p. 154. Stanley — Through the Dark Continent, Vol. I, pp. 100, 101, 103, 106. Verner — Pioneering in Central Africa, pp. 473, 474, 475. III. . .Commerce. Bryce — Impressions of South Africa, Ch. XXVI. Jack — Daybreak in Livingstonia, Ch. XIII. Tyler — Forty Years Among the Zulus, Ch. XXX. Verner — Pioneering in Central Africa, p. 469. Ward — Five Years with the Congo Cannibals, Pt. I, Ch. X. DARK PEOPLES AND THEIR CUSTOMS The most interesting thing in Africa is the native himself; the more I see him and study him the more I respect him. If I had a thousand tongues and each of them were inspired by the gifts of the prophets of old, all should be dedicated to pleading for this people. Bishop J. C. Hartzell. n D\EK PEOPLES AXD THEIR CUSTOMS Afpjca is the one continent whose popn- lation is composed ahnost entirely of dark peoples. For, although Africa is his home, the black man, the pure Xegro, has not been left to live there alone during the cen- turies. The result is that through the mingling of Xegro blood with that of lighter races the population of Africa is more brown than black. The native population is variously esti- mated, about 150,000,000^ being approxi- mately correct, or a little more than thir- teen to the square mile, which is also North America's ratio." The most thickly popu- lated sections are along the Nile, the Medi- ^Slightly less than this is the resultant from the estimates of total population of Dr. A. Supan, 1904; Social Progress. 1905 (based on the Statesman's Year Book) ; Stewart's Daun in the Dark Continent, 1903; and the Blue Book of Missions. 1905. "The white population, most numerous in South Africa, has not yet reached the 2,000,000 mark, al- though in recent years it has increased rapidly, ow- ing to diamond and gold mining and other large promise of money making. Importations of labor to South and East Africa have already added 300.000 natives of India and over 25,000 Chinese to Africa's population. 39 A Continent •£ Dark Peoples Tbe Popnlmtl*& 150,000,000 4^ Daybreak in the Dark Continent terranean and the Guinea coasts, the lower Niger basin and eastward through the Su- dan to Lake Tchad, and in parts of Central Africa south of the Sudan. Nortii Africans Aluiost thc cutire portion of the conti- nent north and east of the Sudan has a native population farther removed from the Negro racially than are any other of the large number of African tribes. Some North Africans probably have no Negro blood in their veins, some have not enough to class them among Negroes, while some (though comparatively few) do give strong evidence of Negro ancestry. The popula- tion is therefore a puzzling mixture. Tbe Arabian Pcrliaps thc most apparent element in many North African races is the Arabian. That this should be the case is not surpris- ing. When in the seventh century A.D. Arabia poured forth to the conquest of the world for Mohammed, Africa, close at hand, offered an inviting field. Thus Arabs in great numbers were brought among races even at that time little mixed with the Negro. Spreading over North Africa they began that assimilation with the na- tive populations which, for more than twelve centuries, has continued in an ever- strengthening bond of kinship. Dark Peoples and Their Customs 41 Even in sections where the racial imprint AfriCr™^**'^'* is not present, the religious imprint is nev- ertheless strong', for the fiery zeal of those early Moslem missionaries did not abate until the religion of the sword had cut its way far into the desert. To-day, Africa, over the region indicated (north and east of the Sudan), together with parts of the Sudan and parts of Pagan Af- rica, as will be shown, is a Moham- medan country.' The Sudan^ is the Negro section of the ^i*^roe«*" continent. Here are perhaps 50,000,000 of people, very few of whom are more than slightly tinged with the blood of other races. At the western extremity of the Sudan — the Guinea Coast region — is found the purest Negro type, he of the receding forehead, high cheekbones, broad, flat nose, thick lips, woolly hair, and coal-black skin." It was from this section of Africa 'The Coptic and Ethiopian Christian portion of the population of Egypt and Abyssinia present the only exception to this widespread sway of Islam. ^The Sudan, stretching eastward from the Atlantic Ocean, includes the Upper Nile region. Its northern and southern boundaries are, approximately, the Sa- hara Desert and the latitude of the Upper Guinea Coast. It comprises a territory about 700 miles wide by 3,500 long. ^There are a few other tribes of pure Negroes in the Sudan, but a far greater number than all other tribes combined live in the Guinea Coast region. The Haasas 42 Daybreak in the Dark Continent that the largest numbers of slaves for the American trade were taken. The Hausas, the traders of the Sudan, are among the most interesting and intelli- gent of its people. They possess charac- teristics which, if brought under the right sort of civilizing influences as interior Af- rica is being opened to the world, should make them of inestimable worth in the fur- thering of the cause of Christianity among their countrymen. Mohamme- With SO solid a Wall of Mohammedanism danism in tne Sudan to the uorth nothing else could be expected than that the millions of Sudanese, sus- ceptible to the influence of a religion higher than their own Paganism, should prove fairly easy of conquest by the followers of the prophet. And it is true that a large proportion of the Sudan is already domi- nated by a native Mohammedan element. The thickly populated west central portion is a stronghold of Islam. The Hausa coun- try, east of the Niger and north of the Benue, is itself under Mohammedan con- trol, and many of the Hausas have become Mohammedans, either nominally or in fact. The puiahs The Fulahs, one of the few Sudan peoples in whom there is but little Negro blood, serve as an example of Moslem Dark Peoples and Their Customs 43 zeal in the Sudan. Like the Hausas the Fulahs take high rank in a character esti- mate of Africans. Added to their natural aggressiveness, which has made them the ruling class not only in much of the west- ern Sudan, but among the Hausas as well, they are devoutly ardent Mohammedans. Their political influence is continually wid- ening, and always accompanying it is their religious fervor and their proselyting zeal. Still, along the Upper Guinea Coast and in other wide sections of the Sudan there are vast numbers of Pagan natives who are as yet unreached by Islam. These, added to the number of Sudanese who are simply nominal adherents of Mo- hammedanism, suggest the point where Mohammedanism and Christianity must meet at close quarters in the winning of the Pagan African to one or the other faith, and also the point where the advance of Islam must be checked if the great Pagan remainder of the continent is to be won to Christianity. Over against the North African peoples who, racially, are so slightly related to the Negro, are the Bantu peoples living south of the Sudan, in almost all of whom the Negro element is so marked that they are Paganism in tlie Sudan. The Bantus 44 Daybreak In the Dark Continent The aud men Pygmies the Bash- The Hottentots classed as Negro tribes. The term Bantu as applied to these Central and South Africans does not signify a race title, but a similarity in language. The people of Uganda and of .sections of the Congo basin, the Zulus, and the Bechuanas are Bantus, whose tribal names, because of the prominence given them in recent years through missionary or commercial inter- ests, are the most familiar to Christian people. In this Bantu portion of the continent there are also the distinct races of the Pygmy and the Bushman. These are people of peculiar interest because of their short stature,^ and because comparatively little is known of them. As a rule they live wan- dering lives, the shy little brown Pygmies in small tribes scattered over Central Af- rica, where they depend upon hunting or upon what they can pick up or can procure from larger-statured tribes; the wild lit- tle yellow Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert region, where they somehow manage to keep their small bodies alive. The Hottentots, also living in southwest ^ They average little over four feet in height. of the Pygmies are scarcely three feet tall. Some Dark Peoples and Their Customs 45 Africa, and probably nearly related to the Bushmen, are not so fearful of contact with other races as are the Pygmies and Bush- men. Therefore much more is known of them. They were among the first Africans of modern times to whom the gospel was preached. Africa, then, south of the Sudan, to- ^«^«" ^^"<*« gether with parts of the Sudan itself, is Pagan Africa. It is smaller in area than Mohammedan Africa, but because the lat- ter includes the thinly populated Sahara Desert, Pagan Africa has a population of about 90,000,000 to Mohammedan Africa's 50,000,000. But Pagan Africa is by no means free Mohamme- " ^ ^ danism in from Mohammedanism. Along the East Pagan Africa Coast, from Mohammedan Somaliland past Zanzibar, Arabian influence prevails. Nor is this influence confined to the coast. As far inland as the lake district (Uganda and southward) native proselytes increase Moslem strength. The completion of the Mombasa-Uganda railway has made com- munication between tribes easier, and na- tive Mohampiedan influence grows more noticeable. The most recent estimate places the nmnber of adherents to Islam in East Africa at 2,600,000. Kamerun, on the 46 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Arab Traders Christian Africa West Coast, supplements these figures by 500,000/ Aside from this advance from east and west upon Pagan Africa is the sig- nificant fact that climate does not deter ihe Arab trader from penetrating any- where into the interior. Coupled with his trade (regardless of its character) is his religion, with its easy-going creed and practice ready to influence whom it may. The native Christian population of Af- rica is slight in comparison with the great Mohammedan and Pagan numbers. Chris- tianity, except in South Africa, and there largely because of the foreign population, can nowhere present a solid front. Its na- tive followers are scattered here and there along the coasts and in parts of the inte- rior. Exact figures are unavailable, but some idea may be gained from a glance at more general statistics. At a very lib- eral estimate the total number of the nomi- nal Christian population in Africa, includ- ing all white residents regardless of their 'beliefs, reaches only 8,957,000.' Of these 2,665,000 are Protestants, 2,493,000 are Eoman Catholics, and 3,799,000 are of the ^Blue Book of Missions, 1905. 'Idem. Dark Peoples and Their Customs 47 Coptic, Abyssinian, and Eastern Churches/ Modern African languages and dialects, ^a^L'^^«a"e« like African tribes, are numerous. Men- Numerous tion of but a few of the more prominent ones may be made. Of course, in North Africa, Arabic, although not a native tongue, is widely in use. The Arab trader has carried his language into the Sudan, but the native Hausa rivals it there, since Hausa is also a language of trade. Among the Bantu tongues the Swahili in East Af- rica, the Zulu in southeast Africa, and the Congo in West Africa are representative. In any description of the African him- '^^^ f/*™"*^* ♦^ ^ ^ and tlie "Civi- self it must be remembered that there is a liaed" African difference between the primitive native of the interior, away from outside influences, and the native who, through long contact with Christian or Mohammedan civiliza- tion, has in a greater or lesser degree al- tered his primitive mode of life. Changes in dress, m customs which en- danger human life, and in industries are the most apparent. The primitive African 'There are about 381,000 Jews in Africa, living mainly along the Mediterranean Coast. The "Fel- lashas," a considerable colony of Jews, have since very early times maintained themselves in Abyssinia. A Comparison 48 Daybreak in the Dark Continent is unclothed ; the other, especially along the coast, is sometimes marvelously clothed upon in his attempt to follow the fashions ■ of the white man/ The primitive African has his own way about eating another man, or about offering him as a sacrifice to his gods, or about torturing him to death for bewitching somebody ; the other engages in these and like barbarities only at the risk of severe punishment if his dark doings are found out by the foreign Powers.^ The primitive African is a good smith and pot- ter when occasion requires; the other is both, and more. His industry has re- sponded to a desire for the things of civili- zation. He has taken to manufacturing, and has become a weaver of cotton cloth, a dyer, a tanner, a maker of bricks, of bark- cloth, of baskets, and mats. Such occupa- tions furnish him with goods for barter. Or he has become a laborer and receives wages in native currency — so many brass rods, so many iron hoes, so many beads, or cowries, so much of anything else that answers for money — or on the coast usually 'The native convert to Islamism adopts the Mo- hammedan costume. ^Because of their intimate relation to African re- ligion, the customs of cannibalism, human sacrifice, and witchcraft will be treated in the next chapter. Dark Peoples and Their Customs 49 in actual money. The primitive African in grazing sections cares for small herds, that he himself may occasionally fare sumptuously, or may set a feast for an honored guest; the other has the same use for cattle and goats, and the advantage of trade. Everywhere, primitive or ^'civi- lized." the African is a farmer, at least to the extent of supplying his own neces- sities. The sketch, which follows purposes to deal only with the primitive native, the t^i3ical Pagan African, as he is before civil- ization has affected him or his way of living. The African is Xature's spoiled child. Throughout much of his continent she is lavishly kind to him. She feeds him almost without the asking. She clothes him with tropical sunshine. If his necessity or his vanity calls for more covering, she fur- nishes it — again with no excess of labor on his part — from leaf or bark or skin. Everything that has to do with the primi- tive demands of his physical well-being is, as it were, ready at his hand. Intellectu- ally, he is untrammeled by tradition or practice. He has kept himself free from educational ent an dements. Xo a bo's, no Purpose of Fol- lo^vingr Sketch The Pa^an African. 50 Daybreak In the Dark Continent puzzling multiplication tables, no gram- matical rules, no toiling over copybooks, harass his brain. There is his bush-school, but the curriculum itself, as well as the length of time required to master it, is limited. Besides, it is not an eminently up- lifting agency. If intellectual development were evidenced by the quantity rather than the quality of words which pass one's lips, the African might be thought to be learned, for he is an inveterate talker. ''Palaver" has a chief place in his community life. He loves it and revels in it.^ Spiritually, he is keenly alert to a multitudinously peopled spirit-world, which he has evolved in his reach after the universal soul- heritage of mankind — the somewhat be- yond and outside of himself and his own world. These spirits of his are mostly of a devilish kind, and the marvel is that, with the belief that he is himself continually the object of their malevolent attentions, he can have a moment's peace of mind. It speaks for his naturally easy-going tem- perament that he is able, despite his hob- goblin environment, to maintain his buoy- *Palaver is a general term and is used with broad meaning. It may signify a monologue, an ordinary conversation, a quarrel, a public discussion; in fact, anything which permits of talk. Dark Peoples and Their Customs 5 1 ancy and be the happy, free-hearted child of nature that he is. It is a precarious life that the African leads. Doubtless he never moralizes upon it. His horizon is bounded by tribal limits. If he goes beyond them, it is apt to be upon an errand of war, in which, with bow and arrows, club, knife, spear, or battleax, he helps to add to the list of deaths by violence with which the continent is cursed. For it is a fact that human life is held so cheap that from birth to death the native runs the gauntlet of sudden violent death, death by torture, or by slow poison. Vari- ous superstitions, and the specific institu- tions of witchcraft, human sacrifice, canni- balism, and slavery, all add their quota to the frightful death rate. Aside from these are the vast numbers who die from contagion, a natural sequence of life in barbarism. Lack of proper care causes the deaths of multitudes of infants. The num- ber of deaths among children from tetanus alone is believed to reach an enormous figure. Complete statistics are, of course, not available. Figures on the death rates, from whatever cause, can be approximate only. An African baby, then, takes its life in Cheapness of Life Infanticide 52 Daybreak in the Dark Continent its hands, so to speak, when it makes its advent into the world. If it has some phy- sical peculiarity, or if its coming be unwel- come (especially apt to be the case if it be a girl), it will as likely as not be thrown into the bush, or be put to death in some less heartless way. Ill luck is believed to accompany deformity, yet good fortune does not always attend upon an infant phy- sically sound, for such a one is sometimes buried alive with its dead mother. Con- flicting ideas control the disposal of twins. Among some tribes they are invariably put to death. In 1902, a native of Rhodesia (within the bounds of civilization) roasted alive her own twin babies. Some tribes re- gard the birth of twins as auspicious. Dur- ing a child's early months certain unwrit- ten rules regulate its development. If, per- chance, it cuts its upper front teeth first, its life may pay the forfeit for such pre- cocity.^ Bai>yiiood Little oucs who have succeeded in pass- ing the entrance requirements to life prob- ably receive as much attention as babies ^Specific illustrations of customs given in this chapter are representative only. They are not to be thought of as universal throughout the continent. Some of them are universal; most of them are so widespread among various tribes as to be reckoned among characteristic customs. Dark Peoples and Their Customs. 53 born into such an uncertain sort of a world need. But there is little inclination to outward demonstrations of affection, or, for that matter, to chastisement either. Child life is much the same in any part of Africa. Until the child is able to walk, he is carried upon his mother's back in her frequent journeys to and from the little farm beyond the village. As soon as he can manage his own short legs, he walks with her, and when he can steady a load upon his small head he may help in the burden-bearing of her life. While his mother is at work. Mother Nature is his nurse and pla^onate, and all of the big out- of-doors is his nursery. He acquires keen- ness of discernment between the good and the evil of edibles which he can pick up, pluck, or catch, and he makes the practical acquaintance of certain kinds of live ani- mal food at which the well brought up civ- ilized child would scream. A boy thus unrestrained grows lustily G?rmood"** in strength and stature, if not in grace. By and by he learns to fashion bows and ar- rows, to hunt for small game, to fish, and otherwise to follow his manward bent. A girl continues to spend her time with her mother at the farm and about the hut, <' ^o*** classes — general gods, worshiped by vari- ous tribes over large sections of country; tribal gods, which have no recognition be- yond the limits of their respective tribes; family gods, each for its particular family ; and individual gods, each the sole property of a particular person. Any Pagan, fearful lest the family, tribal, J."'^,*7**°** and general deities be too preoccupied to give adequate attention to his personal af- fairs, may secure a rude image secretly from a priest, or may himself carve one. Gruesome and noisome rites dedicate this as the abode of some god. The underlying idea of charms and images is that spirits must have some tangible object to work through, just as the spirit of man has the body. These individual gods have nothing to do but to advance the interests of their respective worshipers. Since the Pagan has so many interests that are hostile to the property and life of his neighbors, and since the gods chosen for individual wor- ship are ordinarily dedicated to revenge 84 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Family Gods Tribal Gods and violence, and since anyone who sets about the injury of another in so pious a manner as to devote a god to that end usu- ally effects his purposes, the possessor of an individual god is much feared. In some quarters priests and witch-doctors are for- bidden to make them, and any one appre- hended in the possession of an individual god may be put to death. But the priests secretly continue to make the forbidden images, and thus secure a power over their patrons, upon whom they may inform with- out danger to themselves. The family also desires the sole atten- tion of some one god. Even though it were feasible for each member to have an individual god, the family as a unit has in- terests of sufficient scope to occupy the un- divided favor of a god of family caliber. The family god is often represented by a little image and shrine in a niche of the hut. There is no ban upon any except individual gods. It seems to be recognized that pub- licity lessens the liability of crime. The African is very suspicious of anything that is the exclusive secret of one person. Eeasons similar to the foregoing justify to the Pagan his tribal gods. The tribe as a unit needs the services of gods of A Religion of Darkness 85 greater potency than tlie sum of power pos- sessed by all family gods, and while such power may not approach that of great gen- eral deities, the entire attention of even a small god may mean much when the gen- eral god is on a journey, or asleep, or con- cerned with other matters. The tribal god may have one or more shrines, many im- ages or none/ The Pagan fancies that the concern of <^^"^«'-»i ««*« the gods in earthly affairs is in inverse ra- tio to the importance of the gods. The great general deities are believed to be more indifferent to human interests than are tribal and family gods. Still, so much greater powers are attributed to general gods that their attention to any important matter is much valued. They come into particular prominence in crises of war, famine, and pestilence. Except on such oc- casions they are disregarded. They are so far away and so indifferent to men that ^The African is far less dependent upon images and has fewer of them, than some peoples of much higher religious conceptions in other respects. He seems capable of grasping the thought of spiritual be- ings without the aid of tangible objects. He clears himself from the charge of dependence upon charms and images, when he does employ them, by the plea that the spirits and gods delight in them or require them as fulcrums with which to effect results in this world of sense. Gods are Demons 86 Daybreak in the Dark Continent they take no account of the ordinary rou- tine of life. Why should man pay any at- tention to them except in times of extra- ordinary stress? Possibly then they will hear! Thus does the Pagan excuse his neglect of worship" of the greater gods of his demoniacal household. Nearly all of the Pagan's gods are de- mons, and demons without any disguise to cover their hideousness. The cruel bar- barities of the Pagan do not necessarily spring from an inborn brutality of nature, but from his ideas of gods and religion. His gods are overgrown savages, revel- ing in drunkenness, debauchery, vicious im- moralities, obscene orgies. As raving lions they go about seeking whom they may de- vour. Characteristic titles for the gods are ''The Hater," ''Malignancy," "Producer of Calamities." Occasionally a benevolent deity may be found in the African's the- ology, but if so it may be assumed that its benevolence is indifferent rather than ac- tive. The idea may arise because accidents have become less frequent in the locality ascribed to a given god, and the god in question is therefore supposed to have grown less malignant. Such a deity is apt to be quickly forgotten, for the African in- A Religion of Darkness 87 separably connects his gods with the thought of danger and violence. The ascendino' series represented by in- ^*'**.^"**"*F „ , ox " aeries of Goua dividual, family, tribal, and general gods is continued indefinitely under the last named class. Above and back of the best known and most worshiped general gods are others. Back of them are still others, although not so many in each succeeding stage of less known and more indifferent deities. On and on the mind may continue to flounder in darkness that becomes palpable. There are hopeful gleams of truth in cieams of . ^ Truth all this wandering of the black philoso- pher. It is in his conception of general deities that he reveals ability to think of spirits existing and operating apart from matter, uncreated intelligences which are not made, nor born, nor evolved, but are self-existent, or as he puts it, '^do it all themselves. ' ' It must also be recognized that, in the J^^f]* toward midst of this maze of intervening spirits, there is an ever narrowing circle in respect to number, an inevitable push toward un- ity. One might despair lest the idea of one god, as the common heritage of man, had been utterly lost, and that there would be Unity 88 Daybreak In the Dark Continent little or nothing to bnild Christian concep- tions upon. The idea is there, notwith- standing. Though crowded to the outskirts of recognition, God the Eternal figures in the hazy background of Pagan theology. Some of the most pathetic experiences of missionaries occur in attempts to clear the Pagan mind of the vague mystification con- cerning deity. They must overcome indif- ference to God and introduce an adequate idea of the nature of Him who wishes to act directly with every person without any intervening spirits. To brains so long be- fogged by words without knowledge it is a difficult task. "I think 1 know what you mean, ' ' said an African girl, after days of questioning as to whether she knew any- thing of God. ^ ^ It is something great, and passes on the water far away. ' '^ The name she gave was that used for deity through- out a large section of Central Africa. Others apparently limp backward in their thought, slowly, laboriously, beyond fam- ily, tribal, and general gods, as if the idea were only a faint race memory, and that all but lost, to the ^'Old, Old One.'^ But still the idea of God, not simply of spirits and gods, but of God himself, is there. ^W. Holman Bentley. Pioneering on the Congo, A Religion of Darkness 89 It is a fact of tremendous significance that despite the centuries of the Pagan's blind groping after demoniacal spirits, de- spite the barbarities with which his daily life has abounded for generation upon gen- eration, despite the ^ ' abnormal folds of ani- malism" with which it is covered, the idea of God persists, and is capable of revival and enlargement. Some missionaries find a distinct conception of the existence of the supreme God. Dr. Robert Nassau, after forty years of missionary service in Af- rica, says that he has never been asked, ^ ' Who is God ? " He has never met any one who did not understand at once the distinc- tion between God and all other gods, how- ever great. ^'Ile is the All-Father," his auditors would invariably say. "He made these trees, that mountain, this river, these goats and chickens, and us people. ' ' But in common with all others, this venerable mis- sionary has also found that they have little more than the name for God and the mea- ger knowledge that he made all things. They know nothing of his love, his bene- volence, his hnpartial justice, his infinite and intimate concern for every man. ' ' Yes, he made us, but having made us, he is far from us. Why should we care for him? Idea of God Persistent Conception of One Goa Promise of a Ncsv Mail 90 Daybreak in the Dark Continent He does not help nor harm us. It is tEe spirits who can harm us, whom we fear and worship, and for whom we care."^ When to the Pagan's knowledge of God's name is added an appreciation of hi s char- acter, there is the promise of a new man. Often there is nothing more than the prom- ise. Some so-called converts are most superficial, as is the case in every mission field, and the missionaries who understand the native character are constantly on the alert lest those who are spiritually unpre- pared should be received into the church. Christianity is frequently professed be- cause of the real or supposed material ad- vantages such profession assures. More- over, the thought of one God of love is more attractive than the idea of innumer- able and malignant gods. Still one may welcome the thought without experiencing a change of heart. It should be said, how- ever, that the African truly born again as Christ taught Nicodemus the way, is as humble and exemplary a follower of Christ as one could wish. ^™m"es ^^^^ African's religious philosophy re- sults in various grotesque and barbarous practices. His justification of human sac- ^R. H. Nassau. Fetichism in West Africa. A Religion of Darkness 91 rifice is strictly religious. Since ordinary sacrifice is necessary to keep the gods in good temper under ordinary circumstances, the offering of men and women is essen- tial on occasions of great moment. The frequent slaughter of scores of human be- ings at a time, so recently prohibited by the English occupation of Ashanti, was in- spired by very pious motives — to supply the needs of the gods, avert their ven- geance, and win their favor. Accompanying the thought that life in ^'Deadland" is a vshadow of life above '^"^ ground, the Pagan thinks that the shades of chiefs and ancestors must also have with them the shades of slaves, wives, and war- riors. So human sacrifice has its manward as well as its godward side. The idea that men carry their loves and hates, their am- bitions and endeavors, beyond the grave, means that the shades are striving for the same ends and fighting the same battles with the shades of their tribal enemies as occupy their living friends with enemies in the body. The conception of the power of spirits over earthly affairs is, therefore, a keen incentive to furnish the dead of a tribe with sufficient fresh recruits to over- come any possible acquisition that may Deadland is the SIiadoTV of 92 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Burial Alive Messages to tlie Dead have come to the spirit army of the tribe's enemies. The burial alive of the wives of a chief with his dead body is the first installment of this phase of human sacrifice. Several wives are laid upon the floor of the burial pit, and across their living bodies the corpse is extended, with the head reclining in the arms of the favorite wife. A slave kneels at the feet, presenting to the dead chief his pipe, tobacco, spear and battle- ax. After the earth has been filled in over the living and the dead, slaves may be slaughtered upon the newly made grave. After several subsequent sacrifices have been offered in honor of the spirit of tlie deceased, it is not surprising that his spirit is sometimes deified. Messages to the dead are a natural se- quence of the idea of their continued in- terest in worldly matters. Those dying nat- ural deaths are sometimes asked to carry these messages. But a case may seem too urgent to wait for some one to die. So the message is repeated to a slave until he un- derstands it perfectly, his head is struck off l)efore he can forget it, and his spirit is sent on the dark mission. If something further relating to the message is thought Cannlbaliana A Religion of Darkness 93 of, a postscript^ is added by despatching a second slave in the same manner. Cannibalism in Africa is another of the inhuman practices that have grown out of native religion. It is believed by careful authorities to have originated as a sacri- ficial feast. It is certainly connected with the theory that everything possesses spirit and that every occurrence is the result of the action of spirit upon spirit. For in- stance, it is thought that food strengthens, not, as we would say, by the process of assimilation, but by the spirit of the food being appropriated by the spirit of the body. Warriors mutilate the bodies of the slain, and either eat or make charms of bits that are believed best to represent the life principle, because they hope to make the spirit of the victim their own. Dr. Duff MacDonald- knew a powerful head tribesman in the Shire highlands, whose success in battle was attributed by his tribe to the fact that he had eaten the en- tire body of a strong young man. Scarcity of meat and depraved tastes are Depraved no doubt, if not causes of cannibalism, strong incentives to it. Some tribes of the ^James MacDonald. Myths and Religion. =Duff MacDonald. Africana. Taste and Can- nibal Raids 94 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Cannibal Zone Witcbcrnft Congo basin have been known to refuse trade in everything but human flesh. Con- tinual raids are made upon the neighboring tribes to restock the human fattening pens. Such depravity could easily spring from the orgies and debaucheries of feasts fol- lowing human sacrifices. Eaiding for hu- man flesh is not a long leap from the relig- ious ceremony where the sacrificed victim is thrown alive from a platform to the throng below, there to be cut to pieces and divided among the ravenous, bloodthirsty worshipers, before reaching the ground. Such a scene was witnessed by Cruikshank in Ashanti.^ Not all Pagans are cannibals, but can- nibalism is a legitimate fruit of Paganism, and the abhorrent custom is very wide- spread. The cannibal zone, where all trav- elers find the practice established to a greater or less degree, either as a religious or social institution, extends from the west Guinea Coast eastward to the head- waters of the Nile, and southward from this line to include most of the enormous stretch of the Congo basin.- Witchcraft is both an outgrowth of the ^A. B. Ellis, Ewe-Speaking Peoples. 'Cannibalism occurs elsewhere, but in this zone it is more prevalent. A Religion of Darkness 95 fundamental doctrine of African Paganism and one of the principal objects against which that same Paganism legislates. Be- ing the supposed familiarity of a living person with disembodied spirits, it is the logical sequence of the idea that spirits, usually diabolical, take a lively interest in human affairs. On the other hand, its death-dealing power, when employed, is deemed so unfailing that society must take rigorous methods for self-protection. The facts that a large proportion of Pa- gan Africans die violent deaths and that others die without apparent cause are so jumbled together as to mean that violence on the part of man or spirit causes every death. The African never thinks of death as natural, or accidental, or as due to un- sanitary conditions and contagion. Such reasons seem to him most illogical. His logic — and one need only grant him his premise to see that he has plenty of it — argues that everything, everything occurs from the action of spirit on spirit. If a man is knocked on the head, shot in battle, crushed by a falling tree, the cause is evi- dent. Usually, in case of any death, when wounds cannot be found, the verdict of the average Pagan mind is that some evilly All Deaths by Violence g6 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Wltcli- pala-rer disposed member of the community has connived with equally evilly disposed spir- its and bewitched the deceased. Any unus- ual or mysterious occurrence, such as the death of an animal by disease, ill fortune in battle, drought or flood, may also be cred- ited to witchcraft. In any event, if guilt be proved to the African 's satisfaction, the witch is impressively and effectively dis- posed of. ^'Witch-palaver" is the legal process, conducted by the witch-doctor, which fol- lows the charge of witchcraft. Details vary, but the main features of such a trial are: The preliminary investigation, the public ^'smelling-out" of the witch, and the ordeal to prove the guilt or innocence of the accused. The preliminary investiga- tion consists of a private hearing by the witch-doctor of all the suppositions of the community as to possible reasons why this, that, or the other person might have been interested in the death or property loss of the bewitched. The public part of the Smelling ont wltch-palavcr is the farce of smelling out the witch from the assembled neigh- bors. To absent oneself from the smell- ing out is taken as a confession of guilt. The witch-doctor dances about, yells, foams Preliminary Investigration A Religion of Darkness 97 at the mouth, pretending to be possessed by a god who will give him an unerring scent for witches. After working himself and the people into a frenzy of excitement, he runs in and out among the throng, smell- ing each person and wildly yelling at the odor of blood which he affects to detect as he approaches the vicinity of the one to be charged with witchcraft. The ordeal, which consists ordinarily of the drinking of poison, follows. If the accused vomits the poison without suffering serious harm, he is counted innocent. If he grows dizzy and shows other symptoms of ill effects from it, he is given over to all the fiendish torture and outrage which barbarous imagination can devise. One person may accuse another of witch- craft to his face, and the accused may chal- lenge his accuser to the ordeal. Both take the poison, and both may be dead, in the effort to prove each other rascals, before the witch-doctor has an opportunity to fill his purse from the quarrel. An innocent person, trusting implicitly for a favorable verdict from the ordeal, instead of shun- ning the test, courts it. A guilty person is inclined to confess and to throw himself upon the doubtful mercy of men, rather Tlie Ordeal Private Witeli- palaver 98 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Wholesale Witeh- palaver Tool for Gree«l and Vengeance than upon the certain vengeance of the spirits. The inhabitants of one village may charge those of another with witchcraft; whereupon all parties, both accusers and accused, must take the poison. The number of survivors is dependent upon the strength of the poison and the constitutions of those taking it. Those who do recover are likely to be injured for life. Dr. Elmslie^ tells of visiting two villages, after such a whole- sale witch-palaver, in time to save a few of the sick and dying. It will be seen that witchcraft readily becomes a tool for greed and vengeance. Any member of a community may adroitly start the rumor that so-and-so is a witch, and has plotted with evil spirits to cause any mysterious calamity in question. The witch-palaver then opens a sluice-gate for envious and self-interested gossip. If the witch-doctor has not previously agreed (for a price) to condemn some particular individual, this gossip will reveal to him the unpopular person of the village, and he is thus able to command approbation for his '^smelling out." The witch-doctor can demand any fee he chooses, and take it ^W. A. Elmslie, M.D., Among the Wild Ngoni. A Religion of Darkness 99 from the confiscated property of the one he convicts as a witch. The witch-doctor himself is frequently the one to suggest that witchcraft has been practiced. Such a proceeding is profitable in dull times. The truth is that owing to the widespread belief in their infallibility, witch trials long since have become a gigantic system of blackmail. • It must be borne in mind that the Afri- can himself is not skeptical concerning the genuineness of witch-palavers. There is no proof, alibi or anything else, that will stand in a witch trial against the ordeal. Unanimous testimony may vindicate or condemn the accused, but the trial by or- deal is, in the African mind, a trial by the spirit of the ordeal, and its decision is final. Belief in witchcraft extends throughout Pagan Africa. It is estimated that 4,000,- 000 people are killed annually in the en- deavor to discover witches. Whole dis- tricts have been depopulated by witch trials. It requires an effort for a person in civ- ilization to bear continually in mind the fact that the African is very religious. He may not appear so when judged by the Implicit Belief in Witch- palavers Widespread. Belief in Witchcraft The African Very ReligiouK lOO Daybreak in the Dark Continent Effect on Morals Tlie Future Life morality which present-day civilization de- mands of religion. But to the African morals and religion have no relation. Ly- ing, stealing, and murder are civil, not re- ligious offences. The gods take no account of such actions. They concern only men. The fact is that there is not an awful crime or licentious vice in the catalogue which may not be committed in the very service of the gods. Since the office of some gods is to inflame passion, the effect upon the virtue of the community may be conjectured. Priests are privileged to do anything their corrupt hearts may direct when "possessed"^ by a god. In some quarters self-protection has demanded a law that, inviolate though he may be during "possession," the priest may afterward be held accountable for his deeds while possessed. The priestesses lead most immoral lives; Ellis declares that every fourth woman on the Slave Coast is a priestess, or ''wife of the gods." The Pagan African's idea of the future life is only a hazy conviction of a shadowy existence in a shadow world, the monotony of which is broken here and there by a re-incarnation into this world of violence ^The state of being in a feigned trance. A Religion of Darkness loi and sensuality. Where the belief in re-in- carnation is lacking, the monotony is un- relieved. Helpless and hopeless he goes out into the dark. The limits of this chapter allow only this meager summary of the outstanding facts of African Paganism. Delicacy permits but the most guarded references to the revolting brutality and nauseating licen- tiousness which are the legitimate otf- spring of Pagan gods and religion. To be consistent with his perverted conceptions of religion the African cannot be other than he is. Brutality lies not in himself, but in his religion. Even when slightly separated from his religion, and for a short time influenced by Christianity, he has proved to be a model of docility, trust- worthiness, and inherent kindness. The Pagan African is what he is because of his religion. Change his religion and you change the African. A SnuiBiary- 102 Daybreak In the Dark Continent QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER III. Aim: To Trace the Evils of Paganism from Root TO Fruit. 1 Try to imagine and state what you think life would be like if you believed that j^ou were surrounded by many powerful spirits able to do you harm. 2 How would it compare with living unvaccinated in the midst of a smallpox epidemic? 3 How would it affect your outdoor life to imagine that trees, rocks, etc., were inhabited by jealous spirits? 4* How should you feel about investigating the se- crets of nature? 5 Would your charms and offerings bring you any real sense of security? Why not? 6* If you could fully understand and believe it, how would the Ninety-first Psalm appeal to you in such a situation? 7* Believing in this world of capricious spirits, what ideas would you have of cause and effect? 8 How would this influence your steadiness in thought and action? 9 Could you form large ideas and plans ia such a state of mind? 10 What sort of stories would you be willing to be- lieve? 11* What does the African lose in losing the thought of the unity and omnipotence of God? 12 Had the spirits of paganism any love of righte- ousness? 13 Must a man purify himself inwardly to deal with them and control them? A Religion of Darkness 103 14* What result would this have on a mau's better nature? 15 What incentive would there be to do right? 16 How should you feel if you knew that any evil- minded man might bribe a spirit to do you harm? 17* How would this affect the mutual confidence of the community? 18 What has been the effect of witchcraft in produc- ing distrust? in causing loss of life? 19 Describe the evils of witchcraft and show their results. 20 Had the spirits any regard for the real welfare of mankind? 21 Could you depend on their willingness to help you if you were too poor to bribe them? 22 Had they any sympathy for those in misfortune? 23 How did they feel towards sacrifices involving cruelty? 24 What are some of the results in this delight in bloodshed? 25* Try to imagine yourself living in a situation where such things could happen. 26 Should you have any glad hope of meeting such spirits in the next world? 27 How is cannibalism a fruit of paganism? 28 To what extent do the tribal and higher gods take any interest in the individual? 29* How should you begin to teach an African about the true God? 30* What are some of the attributes of God that the African spirits lack? 31* What are some of the principal results of this lack? 32* What will the love of God mean to the African when he really understands it? 33 Does it seem to you worth while to bring him this idea? 104 Daybreak In the Dark Continent References fob Papers or Talks. I.. .Fetichism. Bentley — Pioneering on the Congo, Vol. I; pp. 256, 257, 290, 365. Nassau — Fetichism in West Africa, Chs. VI, VII, X, XI, XV. Vincent— Actual Africa, pp. 438, 445, 457, 488. Wilson— Western Africa, Pt. Ill; Ch. IV. II... Witchcraft. Bentley — Pioneering on the Congo, Vol. I; pp. 264, 270, 273, 411, 415. Dennis — Christian Missions and Social Progress, Vol. I; pp. 198-201. Elmslie — Among the Wild Ngoni, pp. 59, 153, 160, 223. Nassau — Fetichism in West Africa, Chs. VIII, IX. Verner — Pioneering in Central Africa, p. 313. Ill . . . Spirit Worship. Elmslie — Among the Wild Ngoni, pp. 67, 70. Nassau — Fetichism in West Africa, Chs. IV, V. Tyler — Forty Years Among the Zulus, Ch. XI. WHAT OF THE NIGHT? The land dark as midnight, The land of the shadow of death, without any order. And where the light is as midnight. — Job x: 22. IV WHAT OF THE NIGHT T The moral night of Africa may be par- Moral Nisut tially apprehended from reference to some of the problems which are involved in the uplift of the African. A view of these problems is also essential to an adequate understanding of the significance of the transformations effected by Christianity. The problem presented by the greatest Paganism number of Africans is Paganism — the low- est rung of the religious ladder. Paganism is not all superstition, but it approaches so near this low level that it appears a jumble of superstitious fears, spiritualistic terrors, and horrible rites. It is the chaos of religion, where faith and morals are without form and void. In Africa its dark- ness is unrelieved even by such pale light as emanates from the heathen religions of China, India, Japan, and Korea.^ Pagan- ^While Paganism and Heathenism are commonly- used interchangeably, there is ample warrant for using Paganism as the more limited term, and for applying it to the lowest forms of religion, which have neither sacred writings nor definite system. 107 io8 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Gross Vices A Parallel ism produces debasing conceptions of gods, men, and religion. The grossest vices and immoralities are enjoyed equally by gods and men, and are in conformity with Pagan religion. Unwholesome and immoral cus- toms are thus deeply implanted in the Af- rican social system. Lying, stealing, polygamy, slavery, and promiscuous living have the countenance and approbation of Pagan religion. Drunk- enness, gluttony, every form of licentious debauchery, and even murder are features of the festivals of Pagan religion. The nnspeakable, unthinkable horrors of witch- craft, human sacrifice, burial alive, and can- nibalism are inextricably intertwined with Pagan religion. The reflex influence is in- evitably a callousness to suffering and a fiendish gloating in brutalities. Heredity and continued practice through thousands of years have steeped the people in inbred superstitions and animal passions. In- trenched ever more deeply, the accumulat- ing depravity increases from generation to generation with manifold power. In spite of the 200,000 churches and "Pagan is now more properly applied to rude and un- civilized idolaters, while heathen embraces all who practice idolatry." Wehster's International Diction- ary. What of the Night ? 1 09 151,000 ministers in the United States,^ whose labors are supplemented by various Christian, temperance, and other moral agencies; in spite of 449,000^ common school teachers and 25,000^ instructors of higher learning, whose uplifting work is supplemented by libraries and current lit- erature; in spite of a vast army of police, attorneys, and judges ; in spite of jails, re- formatories, and prisons in towns, coun- ties, and states ; in spite of all these uplift- ing forces and corrective agencies, America has an awful array of drunkards and social outcasts, assaults and robberies, murders and lynchings. Imagine what would be the statistics of crime, the pandemonium of sensuality, violence, and bloodshed, if laws against vice were changed into encourage- ment of it ; if officers of the law were wholly and solely abettors of crime; if reforma- tories were sanctuaries of lawlessness; if every minister were a priest of lust, preaching it as a cardinal feature of his religion, and churches were brothels wide open day and night. Imagine tliis if you can, and you are but beginning to appre- hend the actual state of affairs in Africa. Two thirds of Africa's population, or p*' ^n *^* ^ Social Progress, 1905, in round numbers. Continent no Daybreak in the Dark Continent 90,000,000, are Pagan, and these comprise nearly two thirds of the Pagans of the world. Africa is the Pagan continent. Its peculiar form of religion has existed for untold centuries. To show the African that the God whom he ignorantly feels after (out of his confusion of evil spirits), and whom lie supposes to be malignant or indifferent, is his God, loving and compassionate; to reform and transform his heart, are fea- tures of the first problem which confronts the Christian missionary in Africa. Mohammedanism, although less formid- able, numerically, than Paganism, is a greater problem from a missionary stand- point. It is a religion superior to Pagan- ism in that it has the conception of one God w^ho is interested in his worshipers.^ This fact gives the African convert to Islam a sense of dignity and importance that may well account for the marked improvement in demeanor and carriage that is so often noted in him. Whether conviction or fear is the motive, confession by the formula, ^*God is one God and Mohammed is his prophet,'' is definite, easily grasped, and * Mohammedanism began almost as a Christian sect, its founder having been attracted by Jewish and Christian teachings. Its prophets are the Bible proph- ets, including Christ, with Mohammed as the greatest of ail. " Daybreai AFRICA-RELIGIONS What of the Night ? 1 1 1 doubtless often attractive to those who are weary of ceaselessly evading multitudes of malicious gods. Conversion to Mohammedanism may or Effect upon may not improve character. In the African convert there is a new cleanliness of person, neatness of clothing, and dignity of bear- ing. Witchcraft, burial alive, human sacri- fice, and cannibalism are eliminated, but the heart may, and usually does, remain as unregenerate as ever. The superior relig- ion grants license and approval to the more subtle sins of greed and passion that prey upon human hearts — lying, stealing, intem- perance,^ enslaving, the social vice, and murder. The promise of immoral life in paradise is the acme of the Koran's incen- tive to the faithful. This higher sanction of his animal nature increases the self-esteem of the African Moslem and fortifies him against improvement. ^^You must not wear our clothes, '' said Moslem Moraia a Moslem to a European. ''They are given to us by God to set forth the char- acter of our religion ; and he has given you ^ From the fact that the Koran teaches temperance the inference is sometimes drawn that all Moham- medans are total abstainers. But such unimpeachable authorities as James Richardson, Canon Robinson, Captain Lugard, and Slatin Pasha testify to the free indulgence in intoxicants by many African Moslems. Moslem Assim- ilation 112 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Europeans your clotiies to set forth the character of your religion. You see these garments of ours, how wide and how flow- ing they are; our sleeves are loose, and we have easy-fitting slippers. As our clothes are wide, so is our religion ; we can steal, tell lies, deceive each other, commit adultery, and do all manner of iniquity just as we wish ; and at the last day our prophet Mohammed will make it all right for us. But you poor Europeans ! You have tight- iitting trousers, tight-fitting waistcoats, and tight-fitting jackets. Your clothes are just like your religion — narrow. If you steal, cheat, deceive, or tell lies, you stand in constant fear of condemnation of God."^ Moslems — Arabs or Africans — readily assimilate with Pagan Africans, adopting their kinds of food and mode of living, and intermarry with them. Thirteen centuries — forty generations — of continuous Afri- can heredity have made Islamism native to the continent. This fact is of tremen- dous moment. The foreign Christian mis- sionary must always remain a foreigner. Add to this the numerical strength of Mo- hammedans in Africa — 50,000,000 — and the ^ Quoted by A. P. Atterbury in Islam in Africa. What of the Night? 113 problem looms up with gigantic propor- tions. Possibly most important of all the fea- ^^|^reL«tvene«« tures of the problem presented by Islam- ism is its organized aggressiveness. Islam« ism in the Sudan, its African stronghold^ is a growing and virile force. The Moham- medan Sudanese, within the past century, are credited with having produced one of the greatest outbreaks of missionary zeal in human history. Moslem missionaries are moving out upon Central Africa with their easy-going morals, and stimulating new converts with an intolerant and almost im- pregnable bigotry. The Moslem '* university" at Cairo, ^t^'^,? ^^fj^"" teaching in the twentieth century the Ptole- of isiam maic system of the universe — the earth at the center of the solar system, around which the sun and stars revolve — is a type of Islam. To come in touch with obsolete arts and sciences of civilization may mentally stimulate Pagan hordes in a slight degree; but, on the whole, though Islam lifts the African socially and com- mercially a great deal, intellectually and morally it does little for him. The pliant Pagan becomes the fanatical Moslem. Ob- stinate ignorance and immorality are es- 114 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Specific Prob- lems Polygamy tablislied more firmly than ever in his un- regenerated heart. It is a most urgent ne- cessity that Christianity outstrip Islam in the conversion of Pagan Africa. Once con- verted to Islam, the difficulty of winning the African to a higher civilization is im- measurably increased. Many specific problems for Christian missions are included in and implied by Pa- ganism and Mohammedanism. With but few exceptions the problems are much the same in both religions. For example, it is often very difficult for a genuine convert to understand the Christian attitude to- ward polygamy and slavery, two institu- tions deeply rooted in the social life of both Pagan and Moslem. Polygamy is a serious problem to the advance of Christianity in Africa. Physi- cians and missionaries of long residence among African tribes say that one of the greatest social and moral evils of Africa is polygamy.^ It originates and is fostered in lust, greed, and indolence. It cannot, therefore, be permitted among Christians of good standing. But custom is prac- tically a god to the African. To him one ^W. A. Elmslie, M.D., of tlie Livingstonia Mission: S. P. Verner, of the Kassai Mission; and others. What of the Night ? 115 of the strongest reasons that a thing should be is that it has been. So the battle is not wholly won if he is convinced that a thing is morally wrong. Practical obstacles also arise. Often a convert cannot dispose of his wives at once without great injustice, real or apparent, to them or to their chil- dren. There are certain native laws which Christianity recognizes as just, preventing the patting away of a wife for other than serious moral offenses. A plural wife, if converted, cannot always easily obtain freedom from her husband. Indeed, the necessity of giving up polygamy if they be- come Christians appears to be a greater ob- stacle to women than to men. Missionaries have often found the women the most stren- uous advocates of the custom. There is, however, a steadfastness among African women who have become Christians. An incident illustrative of the difficulty Tiie problem . _ of PolyR-amy which confronts a native polygamist 11 he illustrated would become a convert to Christianity has recently been given by a missionary of the Paris Society.^ A chief of the Batlokwa in South Africa accompanied one of his wives to the mission. Said he, "I bring 'Barthelemy Pascal, in Missionary Review, May, 1905. Domestic Slavery 1 16 Daybreak In the Dark Continent my wife to you that you may receive her into the class. She thirsts for God.'' When Kathokan was asked why he too did not come, he answered : "It is a good road, but it is narrow. I cannot get through with my six wives, and I cannot separate from them. Oh! I know God will give me strength if I ask him, because he answers. You know what a hea^^ drinker I was. I asked God to give me strength to give up beer. He heard my prayer, and since then I have not drunk. You see he hears, and because I do not want to leave my six wives I do not like to talk to him about it." Kathokan, still out of the narrow road, died in 1900. The pathos of the story is increased with the knowledge that Ma- Nhalla, the wife who went to the mission, and who became a consistent Christian, had been taught by her husband, the chief, to pray. He also had given her instruction in the catechism. He had learned to pray and to read in his younger days. Thus had he helped to create in her the" thirst for God. ' ' Domestic slavery^ is so closely related to ^It must be borne in mind that there is a distinc- tion between domestic slavery and the foreign slave trade. The former relates wholly to the native insti- tution, which is a comparatively mild form of servi- tude, the latter to the iniquitous foreign traffic in human beings. What of the Night ? 117 polygamy that wives are often selected from favorite slaves. Advocates of slav- ery and polygamy would have about equally difficult tasks in justifying them- selves before the Christian conscience of America and Europe. In Africa, on the contrary, one custom is about as deeply rooted in the social system as the other. The problem is much the same : first, how to create a conscience and sentiment against the practice; and second, how to find ways and means of gradually abolish- ing the time-honored custom without se- rious shock to the social system. It can scarcely be appreciated in a Christian land of to-day how thoroughly an African com- munity is dependent upon domestic slavery. From a private individual to the chief or king, from the family to the tribe or na- tion, the whole social life is built upon slav- ery. Even slaves own slaves. This second class of slaves may own others. Slaves are the labor-saving device of Africa. They are the carriers of trade. They are currency. Anything that touches slavery affects the entire community, and the African is very conservative in changing his customs. The problem presented by domestic slav- o^Do^estuT* ery may be illustrated by an incident which sia^^ry iii««- 1 1 8 Daybreak In the Dark Continent occurred in connection with Bishop Hartz- ell's work in Angola. One of his native preachers, a man of extraordinary endow- ments, some time after entering the bish- op's force of workers took a girl as a slave. He and his wife argued that they treated her well, that she was more than contented, that she was far better off with them than to be the slave, as she would have been, of others. Back of it all was the argument that slavery was right. It was the way God had provided for the care of a certain portion of humanity. It was only after a protracted interview with the bishop that they were convinced of the wrong of slavery, and joyfully freed the girl, though retaining her in the family as a paid do- mestic. ^^g^^gcJ*^ The diversity of African languages is another obstacle to be overcome. The ex- istence of 600 languages and dialects, all, before the advent of the missionary, without written form and alphabet, in- dicates some measure of the problem. Different dialects must be mastered for effective work in neighboring districts. Grammars, dictionaries, text-books, and Bible and other literature translation which with great pains have been prepared What of the Night ? 119 for one people may be nearly useless in work among peoples not far distant. It is a serious handicap to the rapid progress of the gospel that all the language work in one section cannot be used in many others, not to say every section of the continent. The climate of Africa is a serious prob- ciimate lem. Notwithstanding the healthfulness of the extreme north and south, and sections of the high interior, there is the fact that for Europeans and Americans Africa pre- sents the most trying climate of any of the continents. The scourge of Africa is not a peculiar disease. Malarial fever is known the world over, but in Africa it is more prevalent and virulent than is usual in other parts of the world. The low, marshy coast lands, with their dense forests and moist, malaria-laden air, are particularly unhealthful. Since their occupation by the white man the death rate has been ap- palling. Even natives do not escape the ravages of the African fever. Indeed, some claim that the white man will outlive the African on his native soil. Serious handicaps to the advance of The white Christianity in Africa originate from the contact of the natives with unscrupulous traders and officials from Christian lands. 120 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Thus civilization itself, especially if it pre- cedes Christian missions, becomes a most serious problem. It is a shock to the self- complacency of the white man to reflect that millions of the world's population are threatened with a white peril that is very real and potent. ^'Christian civilization without Christ" is worse than Paganism. "The state of morals among some Euro- peans is scarcely whisperable. It is awful, the amount of corruption and filth intro- duced by them." It is comparatively easy to convert primitive Africans to Christi- anity, and to establish them against the later introduction of the vices of civiliza- tion. It is supremely difficult to Christian- ize them after they have become viciously civilized. This has long been true in coast regions, and it is increasingly true in the interior as railroads and commerce intro- duce coast civilization. The natives of East Africa between Uganda and the coast fur- nish an illustration. Missionaries on their way to the interior field for years have been obliged to pass through the territory of susceptible tribes. One who is in a posi- tion to have an intimate knowledge of the present situation in this region says that already there has been a "serious deteri- What of the Night ? 121 oration," and that Christian work among these same tribes will now be far more dif- ficult than it would have been a few years ago/ The partition of the continent among the Foreign gov- ^ ^ erniueut great Powers of Europe has already be- stowed many blessings upon the African — the warrant of stable government, the sup- pression of native wars, the prohibition of savage customs, the insurance of regular trade — but it also has brought the menace of plunder by stronger foreigners, and, where unscrupulous officials control, of slaughter upon slight or no offense. For in- stance, the Congo Free State was originally organized under the guardianship of the King of Belgium with the avowed purpose ^'not to create a Belgian province, but to establish a powerful Negro state.'' What- ever the original intention of King Leo- pold, the persistent practice of the Belgian administration of the Congo Free State has repudiated every fair promise and made the '^ Congo Slave State"- a more fitting title. Instead of developing a powerful Negro state, Belgium has occupied the Congo basin in force and reduced the in- ^ J. J. Willis in Missionary/ Review, March, 1905. 2 E. D. Morel, Editor of the West Africa Mail. 122 Daybreak in the Dark Continent habitants to a worse slavery than they ever knew before the coming of the white man. The land has been robbed of its rubber by a system of terrorism. A given amount of rubber is demanded of a district, and if for any reason, such as death or pestilence in a tribe, the amount is not forthcoming, mu- tilation and often wholesale slaughter is resorted to as an example to future delin- quents. It is also thought by many that the prolonged rebellion of the natives (1903 and following years) in German Southwest Africa was an outgrowth of over-rigorous if not unjust treatment. Naturally, mis- sionary work is greatly hindered under such conditions, for the missionary is classed with the foreign persecutors. The Portuguese often seriously obstruct *»«'' mission work by their method of army con- scription. Sometimes all the young men of a mission school are forced into govern- ment service, and the results of years of training are thus greatly impaired. The Portuguese also carry on the slave trade under the form of contract labor. Natives, collected from the interior in large num- bers by means of the fair promises of plant- ers ' agents, enter into labor contracts for periods of seven to ten years. In reality Portuguese Admlnlstra- What of the Night ? 123 they sell themselves into slavery for life. Once in the toils of an unprincipled slave driver there is little hope for them. Many are thus shipped as ''colonials'^ to the isl- ands of San Thome and Principe to work plantations, and few ever return. "They die very soon." The system is so "regu- lar" that no other government interferes, but it is, nevertheless, the same diabolical system that civilization abhors. The foreign slave trade, as blasting to The Foreigrn life and morals as any Pagan institution could ever be, is now limited to the Arab traffic. Until very recently, at least, Arab traders, who were also good Mohamme- dans, plied their inhuman business at the very heart of the continent. That it is still carried on is more than probable, but to what extent is unknown. In the Sudan, for instance, weak tribes are preyed upon by stronger ones under the cloak of putting down uprisings among subject peoples. The foreign Powers need continually to be on guard against such lawlessness. Mo- hammedan outlets in both North and East Africa make detection somewhat difficult. Even where governments are kindly dis- JJon'^^^^nst posed toward the native, they sometimes christian . , . . Missions are unsympathetic toward Christian mis- 1 24 Daybreak In the Dark Continent sions. The British flag has been of untold benefit to Christian missions. Yet Brit- ish policy prohibits Christian missions to Moslems at Khartum/ On the other hand, the Koran is one of the text-books (the Bible being excluded) in Gordon College, Khartum, which was founded by Christian gifts in memory of a great Christian hero. The ringing of church bells in the Blantyre district is prohibited, that the Moslems may not be disturbed!^ The British Central Africa government requires an application from Christian missionaries for the privi- lege of erecting mission school buildings, which means that the privilege may be denied. No such requirement is made of Mohammedan missionaries. The work among the Zulus finds serious obstruction from the British government. Native pas- tors are prohibited from performing the marriage ceremony, and heavy taxes upon the natives practically make self-support- ing churches impossible.^ It should, of course, be borne in mind that Great Britain has had many grievous experiences in deal- ing with Mohammedans, particularly in In- ^ Charles R. Watson, "Missionary Conditions in the Egyptian Sudan," Missionary Review, February, 1905. 2 Dr. W. A. Elmslie, of Livingstonia Mission, in con- versation with author. * Missionary Review, May, 1905. What of the Night? 125 dia, and government officials, who know- how easy it is to fan Mohammedan zeal into a flame of rebellion, are slow to do anything to alienate these fanatical people. The problem from a government stand- point is a serious one, but the fact remains that the Christian missionaries are handi- capped by conditions as they now exist. One traveling in Africa mav meet scores Trade and ^ " Government of traders and government officials, and Poucy find that, with but few exceptions, the more notable and conspicuous because so few, ^ they conform to the confession of one, more frank than the rest : ^ ' Oh, I leave my conscience at home when I come to the Coast/' Such a moral standard indicates the odds against which the splendidly equipped and heroic missionaries have con- stantly labored. In Madagascar the loose morals and worldly life of European trad- ers and government officials are leading many natives into the infidelity which the foreigners profess. Perhaps nothing furnishes a better and i^**»«®' Traffic more deplorable illustration of the state of affairs than the African liquor trade. Not only frequently, but well-nigh invariably, the ship that bears one or two missionaries to convert the African carries also thou- 126 Daybreak In the Dark Continent sands of gallons of rum to damn him. ^ ' The Roquelle was loaded to its utmost capacity with the usual cargoes for the African trade. A heavy charge of rum was a con- spicuous item. This came principally from Boston, whose rum and religion constitute a puzzle which Africans and philanthro- pists have tried in vain to solve. When I was introduced to the black Ashantis, they were informed that I was an American. *Ah, Melican man, eh!^ said the chief, *MeI- ican lum plenty good, you got Melican lum?' This was all he knew of America. I could not elicit anything more about my country from him than this testimony to the far-reaching influence of New England culture. ^ '^ During a recent period of four years 30,000,000 of gallons=^ of strong drink were shipped from Europe and America to help in the work of civilizing Africa! Missionaries assert that their worst enemy is not witchcraft, native depravity, licen- tiousness, nor race-old superstitions, but rum from their own Christian land. One expresses the general conviction, "I would rather face heathenism in any other form than the liquor traffic in Africa.''' *S. p. Verner, Pioneering in Central Africa. 'A. S. White, Development of Africa. "Agnes McAllister, of Garraway, Liberia. What of the Night ? 127 Native religions, instead of discourag- gfon^^E^t"" ing, encourage the use of liquor. Drunk- oiYf^or^** enness is a common part of religious festi- vals, and is considered the result of pos- session by the spirit or god of the drink. The powerful liquors from civilized lands not only utterly demoralize the na- tives, frequently to the extent of depopu- lating whole districts, but reinforce native religions and superstitions against Chris- tian appeal. White graphically epitomizes the de- ^ compari.on plorable situation: "Islam, or Arab in- fluence, advances with the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other — as it appears to us. Christianity, or European influence, advances with the sword or pa- per treaties in one hand, and the Bible or a case of gin in the other — as it appears to the native mind. It is no use quarreling with the comparison. It is a just and faith- ful one."^ The appeal of Molique, King of Nupe, ^ppeail to Bishop Crowther, is as full of judgment against civilization as of pathos for the African. "Barasa (rumor gin) has ruined our country. It has ruined our people very much. It has made our people mad. I ^ A. S. White, Development of Africa. 128 Daybreak in the Dark Continent agree to everything for trade except ba- rasa. We heg Crowther, the great Chris- tian minister, to beg the great priests to BEG the English queen to prevent bring- ing barasa into this land. For God's sake he must help us in this matter. He must not leave us to become spoiled.''^ Another African prince, writing for the Century Magazine, April, 1905, says: '^I can prove from my own knowledge that all the wars that have been fought by my tribe since the advent of civilization have been brought on by rash action on the part of drinking men. If we have not advanced higher in the scale of civilization, neither had we (I speak again for my own people), until this fatal liquor was forced upon us, fallen so low as many. We need but an hon- est helping hand to raise us to as high a state of culture as was possessed by most of the dark races at a time when the West- ern Continent was still in the gloom of bar- barism. *'If the present policy continues, we can- not fight as men should against the wrong. The poison is fast doing its deadly work, and in a few years there will be none of us ' Jesse Page, Samuel Crowther, (adapted) from message of Molique, Emir of Niipe. What of the Night? 129 left to resist the oppressors. But our blood will be on their heads, and will cry to Heaven for vengeance. '^Even if foreign Powers should for a time be financial losers, they can not even- tually be anything but gainers — aided by a country almost unlimited in its capabili- ties, and the willing, grateful service of forty millions of people rescued from the moral as well as physical death now staring them in the face. ''All will be with them in this crusade; leaders and people alike are stretching out their hands for aid. We appeal, not to Eng- land, not to France, not to Germany, not to other empires and states, but to the con- sciences of the individual men forming such nations. We appeal, not for a gift or favor, but for our right. Even as the Americans appealed for their rights and obtained them by heroic measures, so do we claim the right for 'freedom to worship God,' and to wor- ship Him by sobriety, industry, good-will, and all the Christian graces."^ The race problem, in its many phases, »««« problem is another serious obstacle to Christian ^ Momolu Massaquai, Prince of the Veis, Sierra Leone. He was educated at Tennessee College and was one of the speakers at the World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 1893. 130 Daybreak in the Dark Continent missions. The white man — trader and gov- ernment official — wants the black man, but wants him only as his menial. Wages are given him, but for those wages he is ex- pected to ''keep his place" with the lower order of animals. At least one high official of a South African company can be cited, who openly boasts of his ^'boys" being slaves. He feeds them, clothes them, and beats them, as he deems they severally need. Another man makes the proposal that saloons be established in connection with factories and mines, so that the native will work to earn money to buy liquor. Aware of the frightful havoc which strong drink makes with the African, one can appreciate the heartless- ness of this proposition. Employers of the type suggested, and there are too many of them, do not favor evangelizing and educating the African. Teach him menial labor, but not a letter of the alpha- bet, is their sentiment. There are noble exceptions. For example, the British Cen- tral Africa government so appreciates the services of the Livingstonia Mission that a premium is given for each graduate from that institution. Some employers dismiss summarily all propositions to util- INDUSTRIAL MISSIONS CARPENTER'S APPRENTICE, EAST AFRICA SMALL BOYS CLEANING PATH, CONGO COUNTRY What of the Night ? 131 ize African labor. They say, ''The Kaffir is too lazy to work, the Zulu too proud,'' and forthwith add confusion to the race c[uestion by bidding for cheap foreign la- bor. It is estimated that there are 300,000 Indian and possibly 25,000 Chinese coolies in South Africa and on the East Coast.* They take the place of the African in work which would develop him. His progress is retarded, and the missionary problem is rendered vastly more trying. The harsh discrimination of whites Etiiiopian Movement against blacks inevitably stimulates retali- ating measures. In recent years this an- tagonism on the part of the blacks has taken the form, in South Africa, of de- manding church government independent of white influence. ''Africa for the Afri- cans" is the motto of the "Ethiopian Movement, ' ' as it is called. The movement is prejudicial; through it the African strikes at the missionaries (and the churches back of them), the one class of foreigners upon whom he can depend for fair treatment and the highest service. An illustration of the serious conse- violence En- g^endered quences that are natural outgrowths of ' These estimates are confirmed by the Blue Book of Missions, 1905. 132 Daybreak in the Dark Continent the Ethiopian Movement is furnished in the native insurrection (1903 and follow- ing years) in German Southwest Africa. Henry Witboi, a leader of the uprising, had been one of the trusted native converts under the Ehenish Missionary Society. But he became possessed of the delusion that the Ethiopian Movement was the means by which God would free the blacks from white control. One of his first acts was to have Mr. Holzapfel, a lay missionary, shot, because the latter refused to deliver to the insurgents the powder and ammunition in his charge.^ The Ethiopian Movement em- bitters the native, intensifies the race prob- lem, and threatens to extend northward from South Africa. Roman Catholic opposition to Protestant Opposition missions, wherever, with but few honor- able exceptions, the two types of Chris- tianity meet in the foreign field, is by no means the least of the Protestant mission problems in Africa. The Lutheran pio- neers in 1632, and Krapf over 200 years later, were expelled from Abyssinia through Jesuit intrigues. Mackay, splen- did in heroism and disinterested devotion, was maligned, antagonized, and seriously ^ Missionary Review, April, 1905. Roman Catholic What of the Night? 133 handicapped by Roman missionaries while endeavoring to win Uganda to Christ. These are but representative instances. Facts will bear out the statement that wherever a Roman Catholic government environment, Portuguese, Spanish, or French, dominates African territory, there Protestant missionaries may expect un- scrupulous treatment from some, if not all, Roman Catholic officials and missionaries. Within the past few years incidents have occurred in the Inhambane district, East Africa, Angola, West Africa, the Madeira Islands, and elsewhere, that reveal the same spirit of intolerance that animated the Inquisition and Saint Bartholomew's massacre, and that has made South Amer- ica and the Philippines what they are. In 1896, after the French conquest of Mada- gascar, native Christians were persecuted. Romanists took possession of Protestant church and school property, and were pro- tected in their violence by the French gov- ernment. When the victims resisted this confiscation of their property, they were imprisoned and tortured, and in many cases murdered. ''Evidence is to be found in the devastated mission stations, in the scarred and broken Protestant teachers 134 Daybreak In the Dark Continent and evangelists of Madagascar, and in the testimonies of British missionaries whose word is beyond doubt. ''^ The papal bull directed against the Protestant mission- aries on the Congo in the late seventies and early eighties shows plainly where Eoman persecutions originate : ' ' The move- ments of the heretics are to be followed up, and their efforts harassed and de- stroyed. ' '^ QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER IV. Aim: To Study Africa's Claim on Christendom in View of Her Needs. I .. .Non-moral needs. 1 In what ways is the diversity of languages a hin- drance to missions? 2 How does Africa compare in healthfulness with other continents? 3 Does this prevent traders and government officials from settling all over the country? 4 Is the death rate likely to increase or diminish? Why? l\. . .Needs existing Ijefore the entrance of Christen- dom. 5 Is there any other such mass of population on the earth's surface whose religion is such a curse to them? ^ The French Protestants assisted greatly in saving evangelical Christianity in Madagascar. In two years' time they added twenty-two missionaries to their forces. T. T. Matthews, Thirty Years in Madagascar. . ^'W. Holman Bentley, Pioneering on the Congo. What of the Night ? 135 6* What manifestations of African religion are more cruel than anything you know of in India or China? 7 What are the chances for developing noble char- acter in such an atmosphere? 8 If you were a converted African, what would be your gratitude to those who had brought you the gospel? 9* How should we have to change the Christian in- stitutions of America to make our surroundings like those of the African? 10 In what ways does Islam benefit the African! 11 What does it fail to do for him? 12 What is the attitude of the Moslem towards polyg- amy and slavery? 13 What advantages has Islam over Christianity in winning the African? 14 How does it affect the ease with which he is con- verted to Christianity? 15* What are some of the evils of polygamy? 10 Why should you object to your father having several wives? 17 What are some of the difficulties in the way of giving up polygamy? 18* If a Christian African had several wives, all of whom had children, what should you tell him to do with them? 19 Why is slavery wrong? 20 How could an African argue in favor of slavery? 21 Is there anything but Christianity that can meet this class of needs? III... Needs created hy contact with Christendom. 22 What is the effect of non-Christian civilization on the African? 23 How should you feel towards Buddhism if all the Buddhists you had ever met were cruel, im- moral, and unjust? 136 Daybreak in the Dark Continent 24 How do the lives of Europeans in Africa adver- tise Christianity? 25 What has been the effect on missions of Belgian rule in the Congo Free State? 26 What are the evils of Portuguese administration? 27* Why do you think England puts restrictions on Christians from which Moslems are free? 28 What are the evils of the liquor traffic in Africa? 29 Upon whom does the responsibility rest in this matter? 30* What is there that you can do to help remove this evil? 31* In view of the evils that it has already intro- duced, what does the white race owe to Africa? 32 In what spirit ought we to treat those who have had so few of our blessings? 33 What is the attitude of non-Christian traders in South Africa towards the blacks? 34 What is the cause of their attitude? 35 Has this treatment made the blacks any easier to handle? 36* Which of these classes of needs lays upon us the heaviest responsibility, and why? 37 Is the greatness of the needs any argument for inaction? References for Papers or Talks. I . . . The Language Problem. Battersby — Pilkington of Uganda, Ch. X. Hotchkiss — Sketches from the Dark Continent, Ch. V. Noble — Redemption of Africa, pp. 160-167. Thornton — Africa Waiting, pp. 16-18. Tyler — Forty Years Among the Zulus, Ch. II. Verner — Pioneering in Central Africa, Ch. XXXV. Wilson— Western Africa, Pt. IV; Ch. IV. What of the Night ? 137 II. . .Slavery. Bentley — Pioneering on the Congo, Ch. II. Drummond — Tropical Africa, Ch. IV. Harrison — Mackay of Uganda, Ch. XII. Jack — Daybreak in Livingstonia, Ch. XII. Wilson— Western Africa, Pt. IV; Ch. III. III. . .Polygamy. Tyler — Forty Years Among the Zulus, Ch. XIII. Verner — Pioneering in Central Africa, pp. 256, 257, 455. Wilson— Western Africa, Pt. II; Ch. IV. THE MOENING COMETH Where is light most needed? Without question in dark, dark Africa, — Bishop Hill. A voice Proclaiming social truth shall spread, And justice. — Tennyson. THE MORNING COMETH With Christianity as the dominating cirrs«anit - force, commerce and European control are mighty allies in solving the problems which confront Christian missions in Africa. Commerce creates and supplies wants, and if the wants are wholesome the people are elevated somewhat. Industry is stimulated and peace is fostered. European control supplants native misrule with stable gov- ernment. While not always righteous in their administration (particularly the case with Belgium and Portugal), the foreign governments guarantee inestimablebenefits to Africa. The blessings to the African through British rule can scarcely be ex- aggerated. The solution of the problems presented counteracting \ ^ Corrupt Civili- by corrupt foreign civilization is kindred nation to the solution for the same problems in civilized countries. The difference is one of degree rather than kind. In Africa unscrupulous government, conscienceless 141 142 Daybreak In the Dark Continent The Slave Trade The Liquor Traffic trade, social vice, race hatred, and religious intolerance have freer scope because so far removed from the restraining influence of Christian public sentiment. It is obvious that such problems must be solved by the foreign governments and civilizations re- sponsible for their existence in Africa, rather than by Christian missions. The suppression of the foreign slave trade is a notable example. Livingstone, the mis- sionary, could arouse Christian conscience against the abhorrent traffic, and could in- spire the Powers to a combined effort to heal this ''open sore of the world, ^^ but the responsibility for the abolition of the traffic was and must be until entirely stamped out governmental rather than mis- sionary. So also resolute Christian public sentiment in civilization against the liquor traffic in Africa is just as essential as it is against the iniquitous business in the home land. Most of the foreign powers inter- ested in Africa, realizing the uneconomic feature of destroying African peoples with rum, endeavor to control the trade. Sir George Goldie, the foremost commercial statesman in British Nigeria, and virtually the founder of the Protectorate, voiced the common sentiment of those at once humane The Morning Cometh 143 and economically wise : ^ ^ I speak from six- teen years' experience, and I say confi- dently that unless immediate steps are taken to stop this traffic — not by higher duty, but by absolute prohibition — a state of things will soon be brought about that must ultimately lead to the entire abandon- ment of the country. I cannot believe that the conscience of Europe will long allow that the vast populous regions of tropical Africa should be used only as a cesspool of European alcohol."^ The Brussels Con- ference (1890) resolved to restrict the sale of liquor to districts into which it had been introduced up to that time. The fact is en- couraging as indicating the attitude of the governments, although it is true that the liquor dealers evade the restriction and persistently ply their trade in the prohib- ited sections. The foreign Powers deal severely with pa^a^eiuta^- Pagan customs and conditions which en- "*«« danger human life and brutalize the people. Cannibalism, human sacrifice, witchcraft, and native wars are suppressed wherever found within the sphere of military force. The result is that they are no longer prev- alent in coast regions. With the spread ^ Quoted by F. Mockler-Ferryman, British Nigeria. 144 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Factors in tlie Conversion of Islam The Passing of Domestic Slavery of eiTective European control the entire continent will be freed from these awful barbarities. Commerce and European governments are most important factors in the solution of the various problems presented by Is- lam. The strength of Islam is ignorance and fanaticism. Enlightenment and re- straint are essential elements in Chris- tianizing Moslems. Commerce contributes to a larger vision, European control to tolerance, and both to a receptive attitude toward education, the most important fea- ture of missionary work for Mohamme- dans, as is abundantly proved by the work of the American Mission in Egypt. The policies of governments in regard to such institutions as domestic slavery vary. Usually radical interference is avoided. It is not deemed wise unduly to arouse native opposition. The first mea- sure adopted, as in parts of British Nigeria for example, is the destroying of the legal status of slavery. This practically places the slave on the grade of a servant, the master having no property right in him, and the slave being able to claim his free- dom when he chooses. In some sections slavery is abolished by law, although where The Morning Cometh 145 such is the case^ Christianity has paved the way by creating a strong moral sentiment against slave-holding.- Opposed to this fact is the probability that efforts toward aboli- tion are likely to meet most stubborn op- position in Mohammedan Africa, where the religion fosters slavery. Commerce, be- stowing blessings while advancing its own interests, is certain to have a large share in ridding the continent of domestic slav- ery. Take, for instance, the matters of roads and currency. Until the advent of European enterprise, represented both by missions and commerce, there were no roads in Africa. Aside from the caravan routes of the desert, and the navigable por- tions of rivers, narrow, crooked paths have served every purpose of travel, and slaves have answered for conveyance. Eoad building makes other and better means of transportation possible and must serve the beneficent end of decreasing the number of slaves. Slaves, in common with other per- sonal property, now change hands as cur- rency. This condition, too, must be altered, 'South and East Africa, Uganda, and Madagascar are instances, ^ The German East Africa government has decreed that all children born within its jurisdiction after January, 1906, shall be free. 146 Daybreak In the Dark Continent when the time arrives for a fixed currency to be generally introduced into interior Af- rica by foreign nations. And an altered condition, again, means decrease of slaves. cnmaJr*"^ The problem presented by the climate of Africa is being solved by the cordial co- operation of the missionary, government official, and trader. Dr. D. Kerr Cross, a leading authority upon African diseases, acquired his expert knowledge during his service as a medical missionary in the lake district. Of late years the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, patronized alike by missionary, civil, and commercial interests, has contributed greatly to the understand- ing of African diseases. Strange as it may appear, precautions in diet, clothing, and sanitation are comparatively recent meth- African Fever ods cmploycd f or fighting African fever. It has been found that the destruction of a species of mosquito which transfers the malarial poison is a most effective pre- ventive to African fever. Physicians and officials of long residence in Africa be- lieve in the feasibility of carrying out im- mediate and sweeping sanitary measures. The German physician at Kamerun has demonstrated that the clearing off of heavy underbrush, and the draining of stagnant The Morning Cometh 147 pools, together with ordinary precautions, greatly reduce malaria. Col. A. F. Mockler- Ferryman asserts that the cost of cleansing the Guinea Coast of unsanitary conditions ^' would probably be covered in a couple of years by the saving in passage money of invalided officials and their successors.''^ Kindred to the mosquito theory for ma- ^e^^^^*"**^ ***'^" laria is the theory that a species of tsetse fly, which is itself so destructive to animals in some parts of Africa, propagates the sleeping sickness, and medical science is devoting itself to the study of this appar- ently incurable disease.- It is fitting to emphasize the mission- I^^ and *****"■ ary's share in bringing about further civilisation altered conditions. His work is less osten- tatious but more marvelous, because he ac- complishes results, not by force of arms (a practical method where governments are concerned), but by the patient, con- 'Col. A. F. Mockler-Ferryman, British Nigeria. " Sleeping sickness is what its name indicates, a lethargy which grows more and more powerful until the long sleep, death, ensues. Its ravages are con- fined to the natives, the European rarely, if ever, being attacked. In the Congo basin, as well as in Uganda, it is especially and alarmingly prevalent. In the Congo it is estimated that it claims li),000 vic- tims annually, with this death rate increasing. On the island of Buvuma, Uganda, it is said to have re- duced the population in one year (1902-3) from 22,- 000 to 8,000. 148 Daybreak in the Dark Continent tinued beating of the gospel message upon hardened Pagan hearts. Christianity, the truest civilization, works in Africa, as everj^iere, through transformed charac- ter and not by external force. This civiliza- tion introduced by the missionary gradually radiates until it dominates whole communi- ties. After all due acknowledgment has been made to the governments, the fact still remains that even on the coast, where the governments have been most effective, the missionary, too, has been a powerful factor in changes which have occurred. Old Cala- bar is an instance. There the results of Christian teaching, before being supple- mented by civil authority, had notably changed the people. Farther inland, where the missionaries have been the pioneers of civilization, they and they alone deserve the credit. Often, before foreign govern- ments have had any influence upon barbar- ous customs. Christian missions have largely eliminated them, and have produced native civilizations at which the world mar- vels. Such has been the case in Bechuana- land, Basutoland, Ngoniland and the Lake Nyasa country, in Uganda, parts of the Congo basin, and in various other sec- tions. The Morning Cometh 149 It is in dealing with polygamy that the moral suasion of Christianity is left more definitely to itself, for governments do not often interfere with the custom. That some headway is being made is shown by such testimony as that of Mr. J. J. Jackson, a chief magistrate in Natal, who says: "I firmly believe that it is only a matter of time, when under the quiet, unostentatious work of the missionaries polygamy will die out. The number of licenses issued by me during 1902 for marriages by Christian rites was double that for the pre\dous year, which is a very encouraging fact and one which speaks well for the future of the na- tives. If this continues, as I believe it will, I see no reason why the much-vexed ques- tion of polygamy should not be solved by a natural process. All credit is due to the missionaries who have succeeded in wisely placing before the natives the advisability of such marriages, and I am convinced that they will do more to abolish the practice of polygamy than any legislation on the part of parliament can do. It is a re- markable fact that so few natives who have contracted Christian marriages break their marriage vows, jDrosecution of natives for bigamy being compara- The Decrease of Polygamy 150 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Alphabet and Literature Greater Unl formlty of lianguagre tively rare, as the records of our courts will show."^ The reduction of African languages to written forms has been left almost wholly to the Christian missionary. Already scores of the more important languages and dialects have been given alphabet and literature. Too much emphasis can scarcely be laid upon the inestimable civilizing in- fluence of wholesome literature in the Afri- can's native tongues. Self-respect, en- larged vision, wholesome occupation and recreation, and the stimulation of nobler impulses are all concerned. Under the old conditions, with the con- tact between tribes too often only warlike, it has been but natural that each uncon- quered tribe should cling to its own distinct language. But with the coming of civiliza- tion more peaceful intercourse is possible, and with the spread of commerce and edu- cation there is likely to be a tendency to- ward more uniformity of speech. This is an end to be desired. Aside from other considerations, such as the closer union of African peoples, and facility in trade, there can be no doubt that a greater uniformity ^Report of Deputation of American Board to South Africa, 1903. Fonrfold Method The Morning Cometh 151 of language would contribute to the speed- ier advancement of Christianity in Africa. The missionary methods best adapted to Africa are four in number, or, better per- haps, the method is fourfold — medical, evangelistic, industrial, educational. The four should be combined in every mission. No station is otherwise thoroughly fur- nished for the multiplied demands that daily press upon it. Medical missions are everj^where most ^*«d*cai effective pioneering agencies. They are pre-eminently so in Africa. The frightful death rate of infants, supplemented by the mortality resulting from exposure, unsani- tary conditions, and devastating conta- gions, is suggestive of the opportunity for the mission of healing, xlfricans are no exception to the rule that sick people al- ways wish to be well, and are greatly in- fluenced by those who treat them success- fully. Moreover, they have been accus- tomed to associate medicine with religion, and do not resent the proclamation of the God and religion in whose service the phy- sician practices his healing arts. The Af- ricans presuppose that every man's power depends upon the power of the god he serves. Efficiency, then, on the part of the 152 Daybreak in the Dark Continent medical missionary directly preaches Christ to them, first, it may be, only as the white man's God, but afterwards, with pa- tient teaching, also as the Saviour of the whole world, their Saviour from sin, the Great Physician of their souls. The medi- cal missionary is often heralded from one district to another. Deputations from kings and tribes beg that he reside among them. "With his fame goes the fame of his God and his religion. Perhaps in the begin- ning no other mission can do so much in winning favor rapidly as can the medical, if thoroughly imbued with the evangelistic spirit. £2van8reii8tic Thoroughgoiug evangelism rivals medi- cine as an introductory agency. Abso- lutely essential to all aggressive mission- ary effort, it is especially adapted to the impulsive nature of the African. The evan- gelistic spirit must pervade and dominate all missionary methods, whether medical, industrial, or educational, or Christianity in Africa, perhaps to a greater degree than among the more stolid races, degenerates to wooden formalities. To one keenly sen- sitive to the vast difference between the character of man at his lowest moral level and the conquering Christian, it might MEDICAL MISSIONS AMERICAN MISSION HOSPITAL, ASSIUT. EGYPT AN EMERGENCY OUTDOOR HOSPITAL, INHAMBANE The Morning Cometh 153 seem incongruous to preach to an audience of naked Pagans on ''The Overcomers."^ How much they have to overcome, of the world, the flesh, and the devil ! But the in- telligent eagerness of their faces, as they appreciate that over against the fact of their sins is the truth that a Deliverer has come, is evidence that there is no incon- gruity. A peculiar feature of evangelistic work pound"**"" has developed with the employment of ^'*««*«" large numbers of natives at the diamond, gold, coal, and other mines. In order to insure regularity of labor and to prevent disorderly conduct and theft, the workmen during leisure hours are confined within enclosures called compounds. The oppor- tunity for missionary work is a rare one. Distractions are fewer than exist in the ordinary native village, and an audience is ready at hand for public or personal work. Not all employers permit mission- aries to preach to the workmen, but there is a growing appreciation of the fact that gospel preaching is a healthful factor in the industrial problem. An important phase of the compound mission is that those converted at the mines, after a few ^Revelation, ii, iil. 154 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Indnstrial Native Renponse months of labor, carry the gospel back to their tribesmen, and form a nucleus for missionary extension. The value of the industrial mission has been proved wherever introduced. Tropi- cal climate, dispensing with the necessity of clothing; abundance of fruits, vege- tables, game, and fish (according to the sec- tion), dispensing with the necessity of much exertion, result in a lack of indus- tries. ''We are all as lazy as we dare to be. ' ' The advancement of the African, as with every other race, depends upon the number and quality of his wants. He pro- gresses in the ratio that he is stimulated to increase and elevate his desires. Wants demand industry to supply them. Industry develops man. Naturally, at first, the in- dustrial mission seems a superfluous waste of energy to the easy-going child of nature. He wonders what profit there is in knowing how to handle the adz, saw, and plane. Even after he has learned enough to do it, the embryo printer thinks it is foolish to stand all day "sticking lead letters in a row." But steady employment begets an interest and joy in industry itself. The usual experience of all societies em- ploying the industrial mission is illustra- The Morning Cometh 155 tive of the deliberation with which the Af- rican adopts foreign ideas, and also the zest with which he pursues them when once approved. For the first few years in new districts pupils can scarcely be secured, but after native confidence has been won the capacity of the mission is continually overtaxed. Boys and girls grow eager for the industrial training, and their parents, to some extent, appreciate its value. The Lovedale Industrial Mission in South Af- rica had had, before 1900, the signal suc- cess of graduating from a four years' course 1,600 students. Aside from this number were the many pupils who attended the mission school but did not complete the course. Of the 1,600 graduates only fifteen, or less than one per cent., have reverted to heathenism. As has been cited, the work of the Livingstonia Industrial Mission is so appreciated by the British Central Africa government that a state prize is given for every graduate. All the basic industrial trades are taught. Native masons, carpen- ters, machinists, printers, telegraph opera- tors, are transforming the appearance of the district of the recently ^^wild" Ngoni into that of a civilized country. It will also be remembered that the marvelous 156 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Kdncatlonal Capability of the African growth of Uganda Christianity sprang from the evangelical industrial work of Alexander M. Mackay. The educational mission, notwithstand- ing the opposition of many traders, sol- diers, and government officials, is vindi- cated by its fruits. The great mass of pu- pils acquire little more than a rudimentary knowledge of the immortal three R's. The purpose — eminently practical — is to give the pupil an intelligent efficiency as a fac- tor of the growing civilization about him, to create within him the beginnings of a wholesome thought-life, to stimulate him to employ his time so that he may escape somewhat the demoralization of idleness. Higher schools train Bible readers, evan- gelists, and regular teachers and preach- ers. Distribution of literature follows rudimentary education. It is then that the gospel takes wings. The exaggerated conclusions drawn from the premise that the sutures of the Negro 's skull close at an early age, thus prevent- ing the expansion of the brain, find ample refutation in the numerous products of the missions schools. The African as a race does appear to lack in the mental quality necessary to the mastery of mathematics The Morning Cometh 157 and abstract subjects. Many eminent lin- guists and litterateurs of other races whose mental capacity is beyond question have similar difficulty. That the peculiarity is, on the whole, racial instead of individual with the African is not conclusive proof of inferior mental caliber. The African is capable, teachable, and ready to learn, if he is led to an appreciation of the value of mental equipment. An American bishop and a governor of the German Kamerun, both well educated men, each speaking one of the three leading languages of the world, were obliged to depend for their interview upon a young African interpreter who was born in Paganism and educated at a mis- sion school. Both testify to his fluency in their respective languages. The incident is not at all unique. Illustrations indicating the African's capabilities in this and other resjDects could be multiplied indefinitely. The universal experience of missionaries is that Africans are apt to be precocious when young and usually are then more eager to learn than in later life. But they do not necessarily lose capacity, and with proper environment and incentive their interest for intellectual pursuits does not abate. One out of every forty in mission day- 158 Daybreak in the Dark Continent No Educa- tional System Evangeliza- tion alone In- adequate CivlUzatlon alone Inadequate schools attends the higher schools — a fair proportion as compared with that main- tained between the common schools and the colleges in the United States. It must be remembered that the African has no native system of education worthy of the name, as do the peoples of India, China, and Japan. Everything must be furnished him, from the alphabet upward. It is an astounding fact that a race which has had no educational antecedents should so readily respond to, and so worthily pro- fit b}^, educational advantages. The practical value of educational mis- sions may be inferred from an incident in the work of certain missionaries in the in- terior of Africa. They gave themselves wholly to evangelistic work without any effort at education, under the mistaken idea that proclaiming the gospel to those who had not heard was the beginning and end of missionary endeavor. After years of faithful preaching, the gospels were translated into the native language, when it was discovered that none could read ! The inefficiency of exclusively industrial and educational work may be illustrated by a single incident. Bishop Colenso, sharing the opinion often expressed by captious The Morning Cometh 159 critics, that civilization should precede Christianization, selected twelve boys from among the superior race of Zulus. He con- scientiously and persistently devoted him- self to their education and training without a word or suggestion of religion. They were bound over to him for a term of years on this condition. The susceptible Afri- cans made rapid progress. When at last the good bishop thought they were civ- ilized, he told them that all he had done was simply preliminary, and was incomplete without the immeasurably greater thing, acceptance of Jesus Christ as their per- sonal Saviour, and of his gospel as the rule of life. The next morning all that was left of his promising proteges was their "civ- ilized" clothing. They had donned their loin-cloths and gone — back to their Pagan homes, back to their Pagan customs.^ Some of the foremost officials of Euro- vieweS^y^ pean governments in Africa have given the omc^iais"*"* most unqualified testimony to the trans- forming power of Christian missions. It was a governor of Cape Colony who said that the frontier would be guarded better by nine mission stations than by nine mili- tary posts. Sir H. H. Johnston, ex-Con- ^Frederic Perry Noble, Redemption of Africa. i6o Daybreak In the Dark Continent sul-General of British Central Africa, says that it is "to missionaries rather than to traders or government officials that many districts of tropical Africa owe the intro- duction of the orange, lime, and mango, of the cocoanut palm, the cacao bean, and the pineapple. Improved breeds of poultry and pigeons, many useful vegetables, and beautiful garden flowers have been and are being taken farther and farther into the poorly endowed regions of barbarous Af- rica by these emissaries of Christianity. It is they, too, who in many cases have first taught the natives carpentry, joinery, ma- sonry, tailoring, cobbling, engineering, bookkeeping, printing, and European cook- ery; to say nothing of reading, writing, arithmetic, and a smattering of general knowledge. Almost invariably it has been to missionaries that the natives of interior Africa have owed their first acquaintance with the printing-press, the turning-lathe, the mangle, the flatiron, the sawmill, and the brick-mould. Industrial teaching is coming more and more into favor, and its immediate results in British Central Af- rica have been most encouraging. Instead of importing printers, carpenters, store clerks, cooks, telegraphers, gardeners, nat- The Morning Cometh i6i ural history collectors from England or India, we are gradually becoming able to obtain them among the natives of the coun- try, who are trained in the missionaries' schools, and who, having been given simple, wholesome local education, have not had their heads turned, and are not above their station in life. At the government press at Zomba there is but one European super- intendent — all the other printers being mission-trained natives. Most of the tele- graph stations are entirely worked by Negro telegraph clerks also derived from the missions. *^When the history of the great African states of the future comes to be written, the arrival of the first missionary will with many of these new nations be the first his- torical event in their annals."^ What then of the night! Surely, it may be said of Africa, ' ' The morning cometh ! ' ' ^Sir H. H. Johnston, British Central Africa. 1 62 Daybreak in the Dark Continent QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER V. Aim: To Study Africa's Claim on Christendom in View of the Increasing Opportunities for Effective Missionary Work. I . . . Conditions improving with the advance of civili- zation. 1 In what ways is European control an aid to the missionary? 2 What evils is missionary work unable to suppress without government aid? 3 How does it aid the government in suppressing these evils? 4 Will it be enough to have these evils merely sup- pressed? 5* What remains for the missionary to do after the government has acted? 6 What is the attitude of Christianity toward gen- eral education? toward commercial and politi- cal progress? 7 Compare the position of Islam with that of Chris- tianity in these respects. 8 What factors will help the spread of education among Moslems? 9* What effect will this have upon their attitude in religion? 10 What effect upon the slave problem has the build- ing of a railroad in Africa? 11 What has been the attitude of the British govern- ment toward slavery? 12* Try to picture the mental and moral outlook of an emancipated African slave. 13 What will have been his chances of acquiring anything of knowledge or goodness? 14 Under what disadvantages have missionaries for- merly labored in fighting disease? The Morning Cometh 163 15* In what various ways will the effectiveness of missionary work be increased by improved health conditions? 16 What has been the effect of Christian sentiment on polygamy? 17 What will be the effect of commerce and com- munication on the languages of Africa? 18* In what ways does the spread of a language facili- tate missionary work? 19* Sum up the ways in which the opportunities for effective missionary work have improved in the last thirty years. II . . . The increasing possibilities of the various forms of missionary work. 20 Give several reasons why medical missions are especially needed in Africa. 21 What Christian virtues are fostered by industrial missions? 22 Why is this form of missionary work especially needed in Africa? 23 What special diflBculties has educational work to contend with in Africa? 24 Is it for this reason less needed? 25* In your opinion, which form of missionary work does the most good in Africa — the medical, evangelistic, educational, or industrial? Give three reasons. 26 What should be the relation of the evangelistic to the other departments of missionary work? Make some practical suggestions. 27 Which does the most for the other, civilization for missions, or missions for civilization? Give reasons for your view. 28* In view of the development of these lines of work, how do you think Africa compares with other fields in its opportunities for the investment of a life? 164 Daybreak in the Dark Continent References for Papers or Talks. I... Medical Missions. Ecumenical Missionary Conference, New York, Vol. II, pp. 188, 189, 198, 199. Noble — Redemption of Africa, pp. 551-561. Stewart — Dawn in the Dark Continent, pp. 267, 268, 295. II. . .Industrial Missions. Harrison — Mackay of Uganda, pp. 152, 153. Hotchkiss — Sketches from the Dark Continent, pp. 146-154. Noble — Redemption of Africa, pp. 562-578. Stewart— Dawn in the Dark Continent, pp, 178-196. Verner — Pioneering in Central Africa, pp. Ill, 292. World-Wide Evangelization, pp. 278-295. III. . .Educational Missions. Ecumenical Missionary Conference, New York, Vol. I, pp. 458-461. Harrison — Mackay of Uganda, pp. 128, 131. Watson — The American Mission in Egypt, Ch. XXVII. IV. . .Evangelistic Missions. Battersby— Pilkington of Uganda, Ch. Xil. Jack — Daybreak in Livingstonia, Chs. VIII, XVIII. Matthews — Thirty Years in Madagascar, Ch. XVIII. Mullins— The Wonderful Story of Uganda, Ch. X. Pierson— The New Acts of the Apostles, pp. 251-254, 267-279. THE RELIGION OF LIGHT "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." — Isaiah ix: 2. VI THE BELIGION OF LIGHT Afkica, next to Palestine, is the country Ear\TB?i»ie most closely connected with the early his- story tory of the Hebrew race, and Christians the world over love the sacred stories lived out so long ago in the valley of the Nile. A *^ grievous famine'' caused Abraham and Sarah to go down into Egypt, and a famine impelled Jacob to send his sons for corn down into the continent where to-day the famine of the Word of God is ^ ' so sore in all the land. ' ' Then there are the exquisite stories, of Joseph, of Benjamin and the missing silver cup, of Jacob 's meeting with his long-lost son, and of his dying blessings upon his children, of the baby in the ark of bulrushes, and of the man Moses and his nearness to God. There are the wonderful ones, of the plagues, and of Aaron and the magic rod. There are the solemn ones — the slaying of the firstborn, the haste of the passover night, the flight of the children of Israel, and the presence of God in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. And there are the thrilling ones — 167 1 68 Daybreak in the Dark Continent The Ethio- pians in Is- rael's Later History the crossing of the Eed Sea on dry land, the pursuit by Pharaoh, and the terrible fate which befell his host. The Ethiopians figure in Israel's later history. Under Shishak, king of Egypt, they participated in the invasion of Pales- tine in the time of Eehoboam.^ The Ethio- pian king Zerah attacked Asa *Vith an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots."- Ambassadors came from Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, for the purpose of forming an alliance with Heze- kiah. It was then that Isaiah uttered his prophecy concerning "the land of the rust- ling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia." Looking down the centuries he saw the gathering of the nations to the standard of Jehovah, and naturally reflect- ed in his picture of the future the then cur- rent conception of the Negro: ''In that time shall a present be brought unto Jeho- vah of hosts from a people tall and smooth, and from a people dreaded near and far ; a strong, strong nation and all-subduing, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts, the Mount Zion."^ The necessity of fighting against ^ II Chron. xii: 2, 3. - II Chron. xiv: 9. ^Isaiah xviii: 1, 7, after Prof. T. K. Cheyne's trans- lation and Cambridge Bible. Africa in New Testament The Religion of Light 169 the Ethiopians under Tirhakah delayed the designs of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, against Jerusalem/ Later, during the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadrezzar, Ebed- melech, the Ethiopian, rescued Jeremiah from the miry dungeon into which his own countrymen had cast him, and God in a per- sonal message promised to reward his ser- vice to the prophet by delivering him from peril.^ New Testament history contains inci- dents relating to Africa which strikingly History suggest occurrences recorded in the Old Testament, while other passages of greater significance indicate the ready communica- tion at that time between North Africa and Palestine. Africa cradled the Messianic race, and it sheltered the infant Messiah; Africans peculiarly befriended Jacob, Jo- seph, Moses, and Jeremiah, types and prophets of the Saviour of men, and an African was the first to bear the cross of Christ.^ ^ ' Dwellers in Egypt and the parts of Libya about Gyrene'' were present at Pentecost/ Two Africans, Simeon, ''who was called black," and Lucius of Gyrene were foremost prophets and teachers in the *II Kings xix: 9. 2 Jeremiah xxxviii: 7-13; xxxix: 15-18. ^Matt. xxvii: 32. *Actsii: 10. 1 70 Daybreak In the Dark Continent The Treasurer of the Ethio- pian ^ueen Traditional Apostolic Liabors first missionary church/ Apollos, elo- quent, mighty in the Scriptures, fervent in spirit, who taught diligently, spake boldly, and mightily convinced the Jews, was him- self a native of Alexandria.^ Four years after Pentecost the treasurer of the queen of Ethiopia proper (the Up- per Nile region) was returning to his coun- try from Jerusalem. The fifty-third chap- ter of Isaiah both attracted and puzzled him. But Philip ''began at the same scrip- ture, and preached unto him Jesus. '^^ He believed and was baptized. What he told his dusky queen and her subjects, how they received his message, and how many dis- ciples were gathered in response to it can only be conjectured. Yet the fact of Chris- tian communities in Ethiopia in the early centuries of our era adds to the interest of the incident told with minuteness of detail by Luke. According to tradition, early African Christianity warranted the labors of six of the Apostles, Matthew and Thomas in Ethi- opia, Peter and James the Less in Egypt, Jude and Simon in Cyrene. Mark, the evangelist, is also said to have been a ^Acts xiii: 1. •Acts viii: 26-40. 'Acts xviii: 24-28. EDUCATIONAL MISSIONS AN OUTDOOR SCHOOL FDR GIRLS, IKOKO A CLASS IN ARITHMETIC, ANGOLA The Religion of Light 171 worker in Egypt, and to have become the bishop of Alexandria. The good news was heard gladly. Within 200 years after Pentecost there were 900 churches in North Africa. The Mediterranean coast lands were evangel- ized, and the population of the cities from Egypt westward were as much Christian as heathen.^ The rapid growth of Christianity did not preclude heroism. Early Christians in Africa courted rather than shunned mar- tyrdom. This spirit often led to the plac- ing of undue emphasis upon the merit of physical suffering, but it none the less in- dicated the depth and completeness of the surrender to Christ. Missionary zeal was also characteristic of the early African church. The first mis- sionary training school was founded in Alexandria before 200 A.D. Three great scholars, Pantasnus, Origen, and Clement, succeeded to the principalship of this in- stitution. The first made long evangeliz- ing tours. The other two abounded in teachings and writings that kept the heart 'It should be kept clearly in mind that the popula- tions of the coast lands of North Africa at that time were composed almost entirely of Jews, Greeks, and Romans, Egypt excepted. Good NevFs Heard Gladly Heroic Christianity Missionary Zeal 172 Daybreak In the Dark Continent of the church alive for missions. Their labors were supplemented by the practical and literary missionary endeavors of other North African church leaders, Tertullian, Cyprian, Arnobius, Augustine/ These giants of the early church performed one service which has laid a lasting obligation upon Christians of all lands and all times to carry the gospel to Africa. They made the earliest translations of the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek into Latin ; and the Vulgate, from which our English (authorized) version derives so much of its pith and color, was founded upon these translations. Ne^Vo^s* *** Impelled by the influence of such men, missionaries went out from Alexandria and other centers into Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia (including Nubia and Abyssinia), the isl- and of Sokotra, and among the fierce tribes of the borderland of the Sahara Desert. This missionary movement ex- tended through several centuries. The response which was met from the Negro and part Negro peoples to whom the gos- pel was thus carried is not definitely 'More than half of the twenty greatest names of the early church from 150 to 400 A.D., and a like pro- portion of Christian writings of the same period, were North African. Athanasius, partly Negro at least, was one of the greatest of the church leaders. The Religion of Light 173 known, but aside from the permanent re- sults in Egypt and Abyssinia, it is a matter of history that whole tribes were won to at least a nominal acceptance of Christianity. The readiness of the early Christians to f^ Abyssinia witness to their faith is illustrated in the circumstances surrounding the introduc- tion of Christianity into Abyssinia in the fourth century. Frumentius of Tyre be- came the founder of the church there. To- gether with his brother Edesius he was taken captive at a Red Sea port and car- ried to the king of the country. It was not long before he was telling the people the gospel story, and thereafter he de- voted his life to building up a strong church. He was aided in this work by mis- sionaries from Alexandria, who volun- teered for the field when he in person pre- sented his cause before Athanasius in that city. Frumentius himself was made bishop of the new church, and later became known as ^^the Father of Peace." From that day to this the Ethiopian church of Abyssinia has been connected with the Coptic church of Egypt. Viewing the foregoing facts from the anrFl^r^re standpoint of the twentieth century, it «' *^^ Eany *^ ' Church would seem that the fullness of time for 174 Daybreak In the Dark Continent the redemption of Africa had come, and that to the early church was given the op- portunity of the ages. But at the crucial point, because theological bickerings and personal rivalries supplanted spiritual teaching and unselfish devotion to Christ, the church failed. Sects multi- plied. Party lines were sharply defined and bitterly defended. Ecclesiastical con- fusion terminated in civil strife. Rival sects fought each other to the death over disputed doctrines. The inevitable fol- lowed. ^^A house divided against itself cannot stand." It is deplorable that such fervor, such steadfastness, such scholar- ship, such broadminded statesmanship, such disinterested zeal in missionary effort as at first characterized African Christian- ity, should so quickly have come to naught. The growth and decay of the North Af ri- vitaiity can church vividly illustrates the fact that missions are not only the chief business of Christians, but that without the missionary spirit any sect, church, or individual Chris- tian inevitably sinks into spiritual death. *^Give or die" is the inexorable law over Christians. This truth was repeatedly enunciated by Christ. ^'Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abid- The Secret of Clirlstian The Religion of Light 175 eth alone.'' ^'He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. ' ' So long as genuine missionary fires burned on the altars of the North African church it could defy every effort that imperial Kome put forth for its extermination. Tertullian had abundant warrant for first expressing the thought, ^'The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." From the midst of scenes of African martyrdom he wrote to the Roman ruler, '^Kill us, torture us, con- demn us, grind us to dust; the oftener we are mown down by you the more in num- ber we grow ; the blood of the Christian is seed."^ The probability that gospel light would long since have flooded the Dark Conti- nent, and that Islam would have made as little headway in Africa as in Europe, had the evangelistic fervor of the earlier type of Christianity continued its vigorous con- quest, belongs to the saddening '^ might have beens" of these nineteen Christian centuries. It was when Christians forsook their missionary calling and devoted their energies to quarreling over doctrinal dif- ferences that they lost faith and spiritual vitality. Then the remnants of self-muti- ' F. Piper, Lives of Church Leaders. What Africa Ml^ht Have Been 176 Daybreak in the Dark Continent lated Christianity proved powerless before the aggressive and united Mohammedan- ism of the seventh century.^ Then Islam found in Africa — the neglected opportu- nity of Christianity — an atmosphere most favorable to its growth, where it since has wielded a subtle and far-reaching influence. stability of It is sometimes said, and more often im- character plied, that tho black man of Africa has no^ stability of character, no virile qualities that can be relied upon for sustained effort in the face of adversity. The history of African Christianity effectually discredits any such broad inference. It is a fact of supreme importance in estimating the probable permanence of mission work in Africa that those churches in which the Negro element exceeded the Caucasian out- lived those in which the reverse was true. The churches dominated by the Greek, Eoman, Jewish, and other colonists of North Africa were all too quickly overcome by Islam. On the other hand, the Nubian church withstood Mohammedan fire and sword until the fifteenth century. The Ethiopian church finally became consoli- 'Aside from the Egyptian and Abyssinian Chris- tians, exception should be made of the scattered rem- nants of Christianity. Little colonies of Christians, located here and there in North Africa, did with- stand Islamism, some of them for many years. The Religion of Light 177 dated in Abyssinia, where it has since maintained its organizatioii. Surrounded by Mohammedans on all sides for more than 1,000 years, these Abyssinian Chris- tians have kept them at bay. So strong has been their influence in the country that it is only within comparatively recent years that Mohammedanism has gained any considerable footing there. The membership of the Coptic church of Egypt is composed of descendants of the ancient Egyptians. After a brief period of favor as a reward for having assisted the Mohammedans in overcoming the or- thodox church, of which they were a sect, the Copts were subjected to persecution similar to that inflicted upon all Christian bodies. While some did not remain true, there were many who did, and for 1,200 years the church has stood uncompromis- ingly immovable against Mohammedan persuasion and violence, and at the close of the protracted persecutions has a thor- oughly organized priesthood and a definite church polity. Its membership numbers about 650,000, and is in scattered communi- ties throughout Egypt. It cannot be claimed that the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) and Coptic churches of to-day. The Coptic Cburoli Ethiopian and Coptic Cliurclies Semblances of Christianity 178 Daybreak In the Dark Continent inheritors of the early church though they are, are more than bare semblances of Christianity. Among some of the com- munities of the Ethiopian church Chris- tian forms and doctrines are mixed with much that is Pagan. Both churches are in reality gross caricatures in faith and prac- tice. The worship is formal and almost meaningless; the priests are often un- learned, and are extremely lax in morals, and the people are like the priests. Still, the very fact of their steadfastness to the little light they had, and that, too, amid severest trial, is indicative of what might have been true had early Christianity kept to its purity of practice, its singleness of purpose, and its simplicity of creed. It is indicative, also, of what may be true if en- lightened Christians of other lands will but be faithful in leading these blinded wan- derers back to the true faith. A Tiionsand From tlic sixth to the sixteenth centuries Years of Nesiect the Christian church attempted nothing worthy of note for the Negro. Even had there been inclination, Islam, a menacing power, stretched across North Africa, and until the era of discovery opened in the fifteenth century there was no communica- tion with more distant portions of the con- The Religion of Light 179 tinent. Prince Henry the Navigator (1394- 1460) did instruct his West African ex- plorers "to cultivate the Negroes, establish peace, and use their utmost diligence in making converts. ' ^ But he permitted slav- ery in the * ' hope that by conversation with Christians the slaves might easily be won to the faith, ''^ and thus by stimulating greed instead of charity he paralyzed mis- sionary motive. Soon after the discovery of the Congo con^o*"^** in 1484 the Portuguese opened missions Missions along the great river. With but few ex- ceptions the African seems to have accord- ed a warm welcome to the new religion. The fame of beads, charms, crosses, im- ages of the virgin, censers and incense, and of the stately solemn service preceded the missionaries everywhere. They were often thronged with those eager to be enrolled in the new faith. Thousands were bap- tized, churches were built, and the pious in Portugal were thrilled with the mission- ary reports from the kingdom of the Congo. But alas ! it was far from becom- ing a kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. Baptism and superficial forms were substituted for vital piety. The Pa- ^C. R. Beazley, Prince Henry the Navigator. i8o Daybreak In the Dark Continent gan remained a Pagan, having acquired little more than a new name^ for his charms and his religion. This was about all that was left to the African of a great but mis- taken missionary effort. Missions of Since the consideration of Protestant tlie Roman Ca- tholic churcii missions is to occupy the followmg pages, it is proper at this point to mention the later work of the Roman Catholic church for Africa. During the centuries succeed- ing the fifteenth intermittent efforts were made in various sections of the continent, and with varying success; but the labors of the past forty years have been charac- terized by definite advance, and by a steady increase in the number of adherents to Catholicism. Native communicants were estimated in 1901 at 374,259." A spirit of intolerance toward other Christian work- ers is too often a prominent feature of Roman Catholic missions, but the student of missions must recognize and give due tribute to those missionaries of noble character who, with deep devotion, have given their lives a willing sacrifice for Af- ^ It was at this time that the introduction of the Portuguese word feitigo — charm or image — gave the name "fetich" to nearly everything in any way con- nected with the African's Pagan religion. ^ Encyclopedia of Missions. Revised Edition. Total of table, pp. 848, 849. The Religion of Light i8i rica's salvation, as they have seen the way. Protestant missions in Africa were an Mi^*fois"* outgrowth of the missionary revival which occurred at the dawn of the nineteenth century. William Carey was a prime fac- tor in this revival movement. Although told that when God wanted to convert the heath- en he would do it without his help, Carey persisted in his consecrated enthusiasm, until, following immediately upon his im- passioned appeals to "Expect great things from God ; attempt great things for God, ' ' the Baptist Missionary Society was organ- ized (1792). It was Carey's wish to devote his life to West Africa, but he was sent to India instead. Fourteen years later (1806) Samuel J. Mills and four other students of Williams College were driven by a thunderstorm from their place of prayer in the woods to the shelter of a hay- stack. There they pledged themselves to become foreign missionaries. The Ameri- can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the direct outcome of the "Haystack Meeting.'' These incidents had a large part in arousing Christians everywhere to their responsibility to the heathen world. Missionary organizations 1 82 Daybreak in the Dark Continent multiplied, and Africa shared in the ef- fects of the awakening. With the opening of the nineteenth century, Protestantism had rediscovered the obligation of Chris- tianity to Pagan Africa. Yo^'Isoo'^^^**'"' Previous to 1800 the only endeavors of Protestants in Africa which could show permanent if slight results were the Mo- ravian mission to the Hottentots of South Africa, founded in 1737 by George Schmidt, and the Church of England mis- sion^ to the natives of Sierra Leone, begun in 1752.^ A few organizations, the London, Scottish, and Wesleyan societies, inaugu- rated work in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and South Africa during the last years of the eighteenth century, but there had been time only to take bearings and to prepare for aggressive development. Between Liberia in the northwest and Cape Colony in the extreme south there was not at the dawn- ing of the nineteenth century a single gleam of gospel light. Serious Scrious difficulties were encountered in Difficulties _ _, _ , 'This Church of England work was earned on under the direction of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. ^There had been a few short-lived attempts toward the conversion of Africans before 1800. Two Luth- eran missionaries entered Abyssinia in 1632, but were expelled through Jesuit intrigue. A Dutch minister preached to the Hottentots as early as 1662. The Religion of Light 183 the early Protestant work. The climate of the northwest coast in that day, before the necessity of simple sanitary precautions had come to be generally recognized, was extremely deadly. In South Africa mis- sionary efforts were often bitterly antago- nized. To baptize Hottentots was to recog- nize them as men, and many of the Dutch farmers and traders, who customarily re- garded them with contempt and treated them with brutality, could not abide such recognition. A notice over the door of at least one Dutch church bespoke the inten- sity of race hatred. It ran, '^Hottentots and dogs forbidden to enter. ''^ Notwithstanding Boer opposition, rapid progress in evangelization has been made in South Africa. From the standpoint of health always, and from that of govern- ment environment since 1806, when the British administration began. South Af- rica has been a favorable field for con- tinued effort. Most of the different Chris- tian denominations have there been repre- ^ The inference must not be drawn that the race hatred of the Boers for the native was or is universal. There have been throughout the years many Boers who have been thoroughly Christian both in spirit and in practice. But the lamentable fact remains that the dominating sentiment has always been of the character indicated above. Progress in Soatb Africa 184 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Ad-vanee Nortbirard sented through one or more missionary societies. The story of the advance of Christianity northward from the Cape is one of never- Garenganze U Coilla-Vrd ^ v^on ^ & - Ba^^ KhanicL's v Count.ry >/ Bechuanas m- CapeTown\o^||^ idt Ka-j SOUTH AFRICA. failing interest. It is the story of the ex- tension of the Moravian work among the Hottentots and Kaffirs, and to some degree among the Bushmen even. It is the story too of heroic missionaries alone and un- The Religion of Light 185 armed braving association with savages goaded into desperation by the encroach- ments of the white man; of strong friend- ships between missionaries and native chiefs ; of one chief in search of a mission- ary finding a missionary in search of a people, and of another chief advancing a gift of 200. cows upon the proposal to es- tablish a mission for his tribe. It is the story of the winning of the Zulus, one of the finest of the South African tribes; of their remarkable advance toward self- support in their churches, and of their mis- sionary labors for others. It is the story of Robert Moffat, of David Livingstone, and of John Mackenzie, of the conversion of Africaner with his Hottentots, of Sebi- tuane with his Makololos, and of Khama with his Bechuanas. Again, it is the story of British colonial expansion to Central Africa, aided by the missionary statesman- ship of Mackenzie. It is the story of mis- sionary advance as far as Lake Tangan- yika toward the heart of the continent. It is the story of changes in social and in- dustrial conditions among the natives, which have been wrought through the agency of such institutions as the Lovedale Industrial Mission. It is the storv of na- Native Evangrelism 1 86 Daybreak In the Dark Continent tive Christians giving over $22,000 in six years ' time for the founding and extension of Blythswood Mission/ and of saying to the missionaries as they piled their first contribution of $7,500 on the table, ^ ' There are the stones ; now build ! ' ' And it is the story of the zeal of Basuto Christians for the cause of home missions. Asser. a native evangelist, inspired the Basuto movement. He had done some mis- sionary work among the Banyai. In one of his stirring appeals to his own people in their behalf he cried, ^ ' Oh, why could I not cut off my arms and my legs and make every limb of mine a missionary to these poor Banyai!'^ ''Enough talking,'' said an old man at one of the meetings, "let us do something,'' and he placed a modest contribution upon the communion table. The people enthusiastically emulated his example. They pressed forward with their offerings until the sum of $2,500 had been consecrated to the opening of the mission. Men and women volunteered for the work. Although their plan for the Banyai failed, these volunteers did not turn back, but ac- companied Coillard, their missionary, to the country of the Barotsi, a thousand ^James Stewart, Dawn in the Dark Continent. The Religion of Light 187 miles from home. Just on the border of Barotsiland, Eleazer, one of the evangel- ists, died. ^'God be blessed!'' he ex- claimed, when he knew that he must give up his heart's desire of preaching Christ to the Barotsi, ^ ^ God be blessed ! The door is open. My grave will be a finger-post of the mission." The initial impulse for most of the early ^^««* c«>««* ^ ^ ^ •' Missions and missions of the West Coast^ was intimately African slaves associated with interest aroused by Afri- can slaves in Christian lands, a large pro- portion of whom had been taken from that section of the continent. Aside from the obligation of Christians to the whole 'Although in these pages attention is especially directed to the black races, the work of Christian missions in the Madeira Islands should be mentioned. Dr. R. R. Kalley (1838-46) was the heroic founder of the mission to the Portuguese peasants. He had won above a thousand to the Protestant faith before his home, library, and dispensary were destroyed and he himself was driven from the Madeiras by Ra- man Catholic persecution. Because of continued brutal treatment from the same source more than the original number of converts have been forced to leave their homes in the islands during succeeding years. In addition to the mission to the Portuguese, a Sail- ors' Rest and also a Missionaries' Home, where, in one of the most healthful of climates, all missionaries to Africa may find refreshment, are maintained. The success and enlargement during the last quarter cen- tury of all this Madeira work have been due to the earnest persistence of the Rev. and Mrs. W. G. Smart. For sketch of work in the Madeiras see Story of Ma(i€ira, by Delia Dimmitt. 1 88 Daybreak in the Dark Continent heathen world it had begun to be recog- nized tliat that obligation, so far as it re- lated to Africa, was intensified in propor- tion to the incalculable crimes of civiliza- tion against Africa's people. This recog- nition had been tardy in coming. The sable sons of the continent which sheltered the persecuted Redeemer had waited vainly through long centuries to receive his gos- pel. Meanwhile, Christian peoples had surged in the Crusades to the rescue of an empty tomb. They had crossed the seas for the riches of the new world. They had sailed around Africa for the spices of In- dia. But what little of the gospel they had carried to the Africans they had discounted by enslaving them. Colonies for Still, tMs awful traffic was overruled for Freedmen the good of Africa. The tragedy and pathos of slavery burned into the con- sciences of Christian people. The slave with his manacled hands pleaded in panto- mime for the manacled souls of his race. It was to the unconscious appeal of the slave that Christian philanthropy re- sponded with the Sierra Leone and Liberia colonies for freedmen. The providing of pastors for the colonists inspired the am- bition to Christianize their Pagan kinsmen. The Religion of Light 89 Thus in 1796 several British Nonconform- ist societies were led to establish missions in Sierra Leone. The Church Missionary Society followed in 1804. Liberia was like- wise the magnet that attracted American Protestant societies to open work between 1833 and 1836. The organization of one of these latter societies was inspired by the missionary zeal of a Negro ;^ the work of another was not only inspired, but for a time entirely supported by Negro Chris- tians." It was but a natural sequence of the EitensIoZ ^Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, ■' The missionary society which was the forerunner of the Baptist Missionary Union. Advance to tbe Interior 190 Daybreak in the Dark Continent evangelization of the Pagans in touch with the colonists of Sierra Leone and Liberia that missions should extend to other sec- tions of the West Coast. Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Ivory Coast, the Gold Coast, the Slave Coast, Lagos, Yoruba, Calabar, the Niger, Kamerun, Gabun, the Congo, and Angola indicate in the main the order of the beginnings of West Coast missions. The advance was slow, and the comparatively few stations appeared as faint candles in the midst of thick darkness. The introduc- tion of ''civilized" vice was not slow, how- ever. On the West Coast particularly its influence has produced most baneful re- sults. Nowhere else has the trade in slaves, guns, gunpowder, and gin been so destruc- tive. Yet, in spite of all obstacles, native and foreign, some districts, pre-eminently Old Calabar, have been most radically trans- formed from pandemoniums of licentious- ness, witchcraft, murder societies, and kin- dred evils, to orderly communities domi- nated by Christian sentiment. Within the latter half of the nineteenth century the various isolated missions along the long stretch of the West Coast became a more continuous line of light, through the addition of intermediate stations; and The Religion of Light 191 from this line determined efforts were made to reach and win the interior. Up the Niger, the Ogowe, the Congo, and the Quanza missionaries pushed toward the inland peoples. The Kansas of the west- ern Sudan, the Congo tribes as far as 2,000 miles up the great river and the table- land tribes across Angola and the divide between the Congo and Zambezi rivers to the Garenganze country have been touched, and some sections have been wonderfully illumined by the gospel. Although not meeting with much appar- ent success, there have been a few attempts to do missionary work among the Pygmies. S. P. Verner, of the Kassai mission in the Congo basin, who has had the best oppor- tunity of any missionary of studying the Pygmies and of testing their readiness to receive instruction, has found them ^'very slow to comprehend or act upon Christian principles.'^ Still, he believes that ^'they have souls with light enough in them to see the way to their spiritual improvement and redemption."' Melville Frazer,- a missionary in the Gabun, has done some itinerating among them. He relates that ^ S. p. Verner, Pioneering in Central Africa. » Melville Frazer, leaflet, The Dwarfs at Home. Among' the Pygmies 192 Daybreak in the Dark Continent stories illustrating* the love of God and the sacrifice of Christ interest them very much. A company to whom he spoke appreciated particularly the incident of the little man Zacchaeus climbing a tree to see Jesus. Their own diminutive bodies and their monkey-like agility in running up trees seem to have been thought of as parallels. One of their prayers to the supreme * ' Yer ' ' is full of rude pathos : ^' Yea, if thou dost really exist, why dost thou let us be slain? We ask thee not for food, for we live only on snakes, ants, and mice. Thou hast made us; why dost thou let us be trodden downr'' North African The story of North African missions is quite different from that of either South or West Africa. Here Moslem intolerance renders Christian work most difficult. It lias been with much hesitation, therefore, that the few Protestant societies operat- ing in North Africa have undertaken their work. One of these established a mission in Egypt in 1825,' another in 1854," and still another began labors in Algeria in 1881.* Thus at intervals of a quarter of a ^J. Ludwig Krapf, Travels and Missionary Jour- neys in East Central Africa. * Church Missionary Society. ^United Presbyterian. •North Africa Mission (British). Missions The Religion of Light 193 century have Protestants reluctantly en- tered this uninviting field. Comparatively little has been accomplished except in Egypt. The work of the ^'American Mission"' in Egypt is so distinctive and so eminently successful that it serves as an example of the typical mission for Coptic and Moham- medan Africa. Notwithstanding the diffi- The American Mission in Egypt NORTH AFRICA AND NILE REGION. culties of the field, this mission, fifty years after its founding, had 25,000 adherents and 8,000 communicants. Converts and con- stituency are mostly Copts, but there is rea- son for the hope that the methods employed will win with Mohammedans whenever con- verts from Islam can be assured of protec- tion against the violence of Moslems. ^ United Presbyterian. 194 Daybreak in the Dark Continent promfnenc*' rj^jjg succoss of the missioii is attributed of Rdncatlunal Work. to the prominence given to its educational feature, a feature which peculiarly meets the problem presented by both (Jox^tic and Mohammedan ignorance and bigotry. The Assiut Training College is the center of this educational work. Teachers trained there are to be found in the day schools of almost every village of the Lower Nile. The enrollment in these schools reached 14,000 in 1905. The son of one Mohammedan gov- ernor is reported as being in attendance. It has been said, and evidently with justifiable enthusiasm, that the Training College alone ^'has done more for the uplifting of Egypt's millions than any other one force. ' ' voianleem ^^^ orgauizatiou at the Training College which answers to a Student Volunteer Band in 1905 numbered seventy-nine active members. As many as 201 students all told have been volunteers, 161 of whom were engaged in definite Christian work in 1905. 8ome of these have gone as far into the in- terior as the Pjgyx)tian Sudan. The fact is the more signifi(;ant when it is understood that every volunteer enters upon Christian service at a small salary, when he could en- ter the government service at a large sal- AMERICAN MISSION TRAINING COLLEGE. ASSIUT. EGYPT THE STUDENT VOLUNTEER BAND •TUOCNTt FORMINQ TO ENTER CHAHEL Amount of Literature The Religion of Light 195 ary/ The zeal of these young men gives occasion for a hopeful view of the future. It means that the Christianization of the Coptic church is but the preparation for the speedier conversion of North Africa. The amount of Christian literature sold in Egypt by the mission indicates a wide- Distributed spread influence. Since 1854 over 1,000,000 volumes have been sold, at a total sum of $200,000. The sales are now running above 100,000 volumes, at $20,000 annually. The measure of such an influence is beyond com- putation, and there is warrant for believing that the consequent enlightenment will mean a great ingathering from Mohamme- dans as well as from Copts. That there are many Moslems who would readily accept Christianity if religious lib- erty were granted them is positively known. Dr. Watson, who has lived in touch with the problem for more than forty years, says that every American mission- ary has personal acquaintance with Mo- hammedans whOy in secret, avow their dis- belief in Mohammedanism and confess their belief in Christianity. They are only prevented from an open profession by ^Thornton B. Penfield, "The Students of the Le- vant," in The Inter collegian, May, 1905. Mobammedan Intolerance 196 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Religrious Liberty Would Mean a Chris- tian Eisrypt Khartmn and Faslioda MisBloaii the certain persecution which would fol- low. Mohammedan fanaticism is so desperate that men will compass the death of their own brothers, either by open violence or by secret poisoning, rather than see them become Christians. Religious liberty in Egypt would ulti- mately mean a Christian Egypt. When the British occupied the land in 1882 the number of Moslem inquirers became so large that a general ingathering seemed imminent. ^'All through Egypt Moham- medan inquirers appeared in considerable numbers.''^ It was naturally supposed that the British flag would guarantee free- dom from religious persecution. But the British government chose not to interfere. The result was that the promising move- ment toward Christianity was soon checked. Since the opening of the twentieth cen- tury the American Mission has extended its efforts into the Egyptian Sudan, estab- lishing missions at Khartum and Fashoda, over 2,000 miles from the mouth of the Nile. In 1904 the work at Fashoda called forth the highest praise from the British governor-general. ^ Andrew Watson, The American Mission in Egypt. The Religion of Light 197 It is to be hoped that a mission possessed winnVng **^ *** of as wise a management as that of the Abyssinia one which has won such success among the Copts and Mohammedans of Egypt may enter Abyssinia/ The return to the true faith of that virile race which for so many centuries defended its mutilated form of Christianity against Paganism and Mo- hammedanism would, as suggested con- cerning the relation of Coptic Christianity to North Africa, be certain to be an event of great significance as regards the con- version of East and Central Africa. In 522 the Abyssinians undertook the deliver- ance of fellow-Christians across the Red Sea from the persecution of the Jews. What might not be expected, then, if this superior people were delivered from the thraldom of a mere form of religion and led into the living faith and the glorious liberty of the pure gospel? It was not until 1844 that Protestant mis- East African Missions sions were attempted on the East Coast. The new enterprise, which was destined to 'The Swedish mission has extended its work from the Red Sea coast lands into Gallaland. The officer next to the Emperor welcomed the missionary to the Gallas with the words, "The Bible is common to us all. Go your way and teach it." Missionary Review, June, 1905. 198 Daybreak in the Dark Continent achieve such splendid results, but in which so many noble lives were to be sacrificed, most fittingly had as its pioneer represen- tative the heroic John Ludwig Krapf . For over a third of a century there was prac- tically no response from the natives to the EAST AFRICA. Missionary Heroism magnificent devotion of the missionaries. Then the mission to Uganda was inaugu- rated, Alexander M. Mackay becoming the leader of the Christian assault upon the Paganism of that most important East Central African kingdom. Events of the years intervening between The Religion of Light 199 the arrival of Krapf on the East Coast and the close of the nineteenth century present a chapter of almost unparalleled heroism and achievement on the part of mission- aries. The exami3les of blind ^'Old Reb- mann," for twenty-nine years, without fur- lough, and most of the time alone, keeping together his class of twelve, and of Mac- kay, standing by his persecuted converts, the one surrendering eyesight, the other life (though both men had been frequently summoned home), that the work begun might be sustained until reinforcements should arrive, are a type of all. As a fruitage of the sublime living of East African missionaries, Uganda has be- come a synonym for extraordinary mis- sionary success. Moreover, the work in this kingdom seems to have set the pace for a most remarkable group of missions ; for, like Uganda, the Universities', Blan- tyre, Livingstonia, and London Society missions in the lake district further to the south, represent the highest degree of missionary statesmanship, efficiency, and success. The five great East African missions ^pfr^irbyTiv named, like others in other sections of the ^^s^ton^ continent, were inspired by Livingstone. Ugranda a Type A Colossal Sacrifice 200 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Their founding and subsequent success sug- gest the mighty significance of his life and death for Africa. It was Henry Drum- mond who said that a score of forward movements could be directly traced to Liv- ingstone. The great interest aroused by his travels flamed into action under the in- fluence of his addresses, writings, and death. Impelled as by a common impulse, missions pushed inland, and there Christi- anity has had its greatest successes. Thus in the nineteenth century did God, the Master of Missions, first draw a cor- don of light-bearers around the Dark Con- tinent, south, west, north, and east, and then, as if the advance upon the interior had been too long delayed, he thrust David Livingstone into the darkness of the cen- tral regions, that upon an altar high and lifted up — the more conspicuous because of its isolation — a sacrifice so colossal might set the civil, commercial, and especially the missionary forces of the world on the march for Africa's enlightenment. The Religion of Light 201 QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER VI. Aim: To Determine the Teaching of Histoey fob THE Present Day. I . . . The lost opportunity of the early Church. 1 What contact of Africa with the gospel do we find in the Bible? 2 How did Africa respond to the earliest preaching? 3 What sort of missionary spirit had the early African Church? 4 What success did it attain with the Negroes and in Abyssinia? 5 What causes destroyed the missionary spirit of the African Church? 6 How did the Negro as compared with the Caucas- ian Church resist Islam? 7 What was there in the Coptic Church to attract or inspire its followers? 8 What do you think would have become of you in such a lifeless atmosphere, and with such pres- sure from without? 9* Sum all that has been lost to the Christian Church by the lack of aggressiveness in its North African representatives long ago. 10* What will the lack of missionary spirit in Chris- tians to-day cost the Church of the future? 11 Do you think that Africa would have remained sealed to Christendom for a thousand years if churches had been planted in Central Africa in the early centuries? 11... Effort and progress in different sections. 12 What were the causes of the decay of early Ro- man Catholic missions? 13 Is quantity or quality most important in mission- ary work. 202 Daybreak in the Dark Continent 14 What were the causes of the success of Carey and Mills? 15 What do you think these men would undertake if they were living to-day? 16 Where and by whom were the first modern Afri- can missions started? 17* Were the diflBculties greater or less than those at the present, and in what way? 18* For what reasons is it a good commercial invest- ment for a nation to support missions? 19 Give four names of great South African mission- aries, with something connected with the life of each. 20 What had slavery to do with the establishment of missionary work? 21 Indicate the spread of missions on the West Coast. 22 How has effort there been rewarded? 23 What is the chief difficulty as to missionary work in North Africa? 24* What preparatory work is necessary in such a field before we have any right to expect results? 25* What help will the evangelization of the Copts be to work among the Moslems? 26 To what is the success of the American Mission in Egypt mainly due? 27 Give three names of East African missionaries and tell something significant connected with each. 28 What great missionary principle does the life of Livingstone teach? 29* Sum up in review the principal needs of Africa. 30* Sum up the principal difiiculties. 31* Sum up the resisons for encouragement. The Religion of Light 203 References fob Papers or Talks. I . . . Apologetics. Bryce — Impressions of South Africa, Ch. XXII. Dennis — Christian Missions and Social Progress, Vol. II, pp. 176-208. Johnston — The Colonization of Africa, Ch. VIII. Liggins — The Great Value and Success of Foreign Missions, pp. 31-48. Mullins— The Wonderful Story of Uganda, Ch. XIII. Noble— Redemption of Africa, pp. 683-720. Stewart — Dawn in the Dark Continent, Chs. XI, XII. Warneck — Modern Missions and Culture, pp. 149- 211. II. . .Mohammedanism. Kerr — Pioneering in Morocco, 183-228. Lane — The Modern Egyptians, Chs. I, II, III, IVo Shedd — Islam and Oriental Churches, Ch. IV. Stewart — Dawn in the Dark Continent, pp. 46-58. Vincent— Actual Africa, pp. 3, 7, 14, 38, 127, 508. HERALDS OF THE DAWN It is something to be a missionary. The morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy when they saw the field which the first mis- sionary was to fill. The great and terrible God, be- fore whom angels veil their faces, had an only Son, and He was sent to earth as a Missionary Physician. It is something to be a follower, however feeble, in the wake of the Great Teacher and only Model Mis- sionary that ever appeared among men, and now that He is head over all things, King of kings and Lord of lords, what commission is equal to that which the missionary holds from Him? May I venture to invite young men of education, when laying down the plan of their lives, to take a glance at that of missionary? We will magnify the office! For my own part, I never cease to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. — David Livingstone. VII HERALDS OF THE DAWN Men are greater than their deeds. There ^«" ^^^i*'* ^ tbian Deeds is often more inspiration in the under- standing of the spirit of a man than of the work that he does. Therefore the pioneers in the various fields of activity of modern African missions are here presented less from the standpoint of what they accom- plish than of what they are. In most cases they represent the grain of wheat which falls into the ground and dies that others may reap the harvest. Whatever their in- dividual achievement or apparent failure, their work is the essential foundation for later successes. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries pre- ^l^na^y^xyplV sented two types of missionary, the cru- sader and the ascetic. Tens of thousands swarmed to Palestine to rescue the Holy Sepulcher from the Saracens, or to Africa in the hope of converting Mohammedans by force of arms. Thousands also flocked to the numerous orders of unarmed cliiv- 207 star of Modern Missions 208 Daybreak In the Dark Continent airy and devoted themselves to the redemp- tion of captives in Moslem lands or to the direct evangelization of Mohammedans. Tbe Morningr Thesc two typcs of missionary, best rep- resented by Louis IX of France, the pious crusader, and St. Francis of Assisi, ''The Apostle of Poverty,^' are in striking con- trast with Raymond Lull,^ who may well be called the morning star of modern mis- sions. He was the one mediaeval mission- ary who was thoroughly modern in spirit. His life was devoted to Moslem Africa. He is, therefore, the forerunner of the Prot- estant pioneers in the Dark Continent. His was a sane, wholesome, rugged manhood. He combined the rare talents of " a power- ful intellect and loving heart, and efficiency in practical things." His missionary methods were modern. He spent nine years in most careful preparation. He mastered the Arabic language and literature. When in Europe he made lecturing tours and se- cured the establishment of chairs of mis- sions in the great universities. When on the field he centered all missionary eifort in personal evangelism. "No more origi- nal missionary has ever been produced.'' One is surprised at Lull's timidity and *S. M. Zwemer, Raymond Lull. Lull's Timid- ity and Conrase Heralds of the Dawn 209 inspired by his courage. After engaging his passage and putting his books on board a vessel bound for Tunis such a terror seized him that he let the vessel sail with- out him. He was immediately overcome with remorse for his weakness, and, al- though prostrated by nervous fever, begged to be taken aboard the next vessel. Again his heart failed him, and again remorse tor- tured him, until he cried out, ''Woe is me if I preach not the gospel." Finding no rest of spirit or recovery of body, he for a third time faced the sea, and was no sooner out of sight of land than his fever left him and he was girded with a mighty courage that never forsook him. The transformation of Jonah was not more complete. Landing at Tunis, Lull proposed a com- parison of religions, and the Moslem doc- tors with happy tolerance gathered about so reasonable a Christian. As long as their discussion was nothing more than a philo- sophical tilt they broke their logical lances in mutual good humor, but when Lull touched upon the false claims of Moham- med his opponents became intolerant. He was sentenced to death, but through the plea of an admiring Moslem was banished instead. Undaunted, he hid in the harbor Comparison of Reliffionis 210 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Type of Life- Tvork: and watched for an opportunity for fur- ther testimony. The foregoing is a type of Lull's life- work. The Mohammedans tolerated his philosophical discussions and seemed to take pride in associating with a man of so remarkable an intellect. But when philoso- phy arrived at the point of Christian ap- peal they answered with stones, the dun- geon, or banishment. Even at the age of eighty, when most men have retired, his youthful spirit continued to spur him on. It is surprising that he should have been permitted to pursue his aggressive course beyond fourscore years. His bold denuncia- tions of Mohammed then resulted in his death by stoning. The First Modern. Mis- sionary The spirit of the first of the modern mis- sionaries to Africa was typical of the church he represented; for, to the Mora- vians, missions are the chief business. George Schmidt,^ having once undertaken his work, was not easily turned back by peril or difficulty. He landed in Cape Town July 9, 1737. The derision and contempt with which he was received was reflected in the enmity of the Dutch farmers fifty 'A. C. Thompson, Moravian Missions. Heralds of the Dawn 211 miles from the coast, near whom he began his labors among the natives. By the fol- lowing spring this animosity had driven him thirty miles farther inland. Here he gathered Hottentots about him and soon had a school of over twenty-five children. After four years of patient teaching First convert Schmidt baptized the first native Christian, March 31, 1742. The ceremony occurred as he and his convert were returning from a trip to Cape Town, and, like the first bap- tism of an African by Philip 1,700 years before, was in a stream by the wayside. The faithful and solitary missionary was schmidt not •^ . *' Allowed to not long allowed to carry forward his work, continue woric Many Hottentots had been converted after that first baptism, and the opposing fac- tion among the Dutch did not favor a mis- sion which could show such results. Six years, all told, Schmidt labored on in his loneliness at the station which after- ward was called Genadendal, or Vale of Grace, because of the changed lives of the natives. By the end of this period Dutch hatred had grown so violent that he was forced to return to Europe (1743), and the Dutch East India Company never permit- ted him to renew his work. Five years later John Schwalber volun- schwaiber 212 Daybreak in the Dark Continent teered for the difficult field. He went out at his own expense, toiled and suffered for the Hottentots, and in the eighth year among them died. This time the mission was abandoned. No one volunteered for the ill-fated place. Fauure **' ^^ doubt the livcs of these two mission- aries were pointed to as total failures. The six years' service of one had closed in de- feat; the eight years of the other had ended in death; there was no one to continue the work. But the little candle which Schmidt had lighted and Schwalber had kept burning still threw faint beams when, thirty-six years later, the mission was re- opened, never again to be discontinued. One old woman brought a worn Dutch Bible which Schmidt had left with them. One man told how his father had bidden the people to welcome and follow those who would come from a long distance to "show Hottentots the narrow way by which they might escape from the great fire and find God." Later work has been built upon this waiting foundation. Since then, as one has aptly suggested, on the semi-desert table-lands of South Africa permanent transformations have taken place that il- lustrate the promise that ''the wilderness Heralds of the Dawn 213 and solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall blossom abmidantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing/' John Ludwig. Krapf/ the pioneer of it^^^t"^"^'' East Coast missions, is the peer of the greatest of missionary characters. After several years of service under the Chnrch Missionary Society in Abyssinia, he was driven from that country by Jesuit in- trigues. Proceeding southward, he settled at Mombasa, on the East Coast, in 1844. In 1851 a missionary leader said : '*If Af- rica is to be penetrated by European mis- sionaries, it must be from the East Coast." But the remark was made seven years after Krapf had conceived the plan and had set about its execution. Standing beside the newly made grave of his wife and child, a few months after arriving at Mombasa, he sent his challenge to Christians at home. ^^ There is now on the East African Coast a lonely missionary grave. This is a sign that you have commenced the struggle with this part of the world ; and as the victories of the church are gained by stepping over the graves of her members, you may be the more convinced that the hour is at hand ^John Ludwig Krapf, Travels and Missionary LOr dors in East Africa. 214 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Missionary Explorations Difflcnlties when you are summoned to the conversion of Africa from its eastern shore. ' ' With the same thought Rosina Krapf had requested that her body be buried on the mainland instead of on the island of Mombasa. Krapf was joined by Eebmann in 1846, and, being *' pressed in spirit," he with his fellow worker began the series of mission- ary explorations which resulted in the dis- covery of the mountains Kilima-Njaro and Kenia. From reports of traders the mis- sionaries also gathered that there was a great inland sea a few hundred miles to the west. Krapf likewise hit upon the cor- rect theory — proved several years later — that the sources of the Nile and the Congo would be found in the vicinity of this in- land sea. Soon the scientific explorations began which resulted in that marvelous series of discoveries of lakes and river courses, which in turn led to the unprece- dented missionary movement into Central Africa. The initial impulse and many sub- sequent impulses toward the wonderful consummation were given by this mission- ary, ''who never turned his back, but marched breast forward. ' ' Meantime, difficulties increased in Krapf 's missionary work. If he made a Heralds of the Dawn 215 tour to establish a new station he was set upon and robbed, his attendants were scat- tered and killed, and he himself was made a fugitive in a land of savages. At one time he was reduced to such straits as "to eat gunpowder, and the next day to ''break his fast" upon ants. If reinforcements ar- rived, the station soon became a hospital. "Our God bids us first build a cemetery before we build a church or dwelling-house, showing us that the resurrection of East Africa must be effected by our own destruc- tion." Krapf 's one great vision was an "Apos- strVet^ tie Street" of stations from east to west across the continent, also one from north to south, with each principal station named after an Apostle. At first he was confident of accomplishing his cherished hope, but it was not many years before he reconciled himself to hope deferred. "The idea of a chain of missions will yet be taken up by succeeding generations and carried out; for the idea is always conceived tens of years before it comes to pass. This idea I bequeath to every missionary coming to East Africa. . . . Our sanguine expec- tations and hopes of immediate success may be laid in the grave, like Lazarus, yet 2i6 Daybreak In the Dark Continent they shall have a resurrection, and our eyes shall see the glory of God at last.'' Pro- phetic utterance ! He lived to see the mis- sion established in Uganda, and while many were questioning over the early disasters, his voice rang true and with ever charac- teristic fire: ''Though many missionaries may fall in the fight, yet the survivors will pass over the slain into the trenches and take this great African fortress for the Lord. ... Be mindful of the memorable words spoken by the French Guard at the battle of Water- loo: 'The Guard does not surrender — it dies.' " carryinsr Out "We arc but uow (1899) carrvinsT out Krapf's Scheme \ the scheme which Krapf suggested," says Eugene Stock.^ Indeed, with the Congo missions approaching those from the east, and with the Xile missions almost meeting those from the south, a great cross is being roughly described by transcontinental sta- tions that would thrill the rugged soul of Krapf with enthusiasm. Krapf labored, and others have entered into his labors. He seemed destined only to clear the way in thought and action for others to follow. All the great Central ^History of the Church Missionary Society. Heralds of the Dawn 217 African explorers, including Livingstone, were inspired by his discoveries. In 1817, Robert Moffat/ a young man of ^,^^^7 twenty-two, entered upon his fifty-three years of service for South Africa. Early in his pioneer experience he pushed north- ward into what was then wilderness, and joining another missionary entered the country of the Bechuanas. The field was a difficult one. The people ^^J'/d®*'"*' cared nothing for the missionaries, nor for what they had to tell them. Their Pagan customs were more to their liking, and ac- cording to their mood they were scornful or revengeful toward the representatives of the new religion. They ridiculed the idea that any of them could ever believe the strange teaching, and they robbed the newcomers of what small possessions they had. Winning them evidently was destined to require a long siege upon their fortress of Pagan self-satisfaction : no open arms here; no waiting hearts, eager for the ^* God-palaver.'' Moffat was the right man for the place. ^^ ^of We Xothing discouraged him, nothing baffled piace him. He was possessed of an unceasing ^ John S. Moffat, Robert and Mary Moffat; David J. Deane, Robert Moffat. Varied Experleiiees 2 1 8 Daybreak in the Dark Continent purpose to do without flinching what he believed God intended he should do. He had been instrumental in preventing some savage practice, and the angry chief and his picked men came to demand that the missionaries leave the country. They were armed, and it was evident that they meant mischief. Moffat stood fearlessly before them, closing his reply to their demands with the words, "Our hearts are with you." Then he added, as he bared his breast, ^Mf you will, drive your spears to my heart; and when you have slain me my compan- ions will know that the hour has come for them to depart." Such bravery awakened in the savages enough admiration to cause them to leave their intended victims unmo- lested. "These men must have ten lives when they are so fearless of death," de- clared the chief to his followers. "There must be something in immortality." The succeeding years were filled with va- ried experiences. The country was con- tinually in a state of turmoil, due to tribal wars. The mission was often in danger. But the missionaries never lost courage. Moffat, thrown upon his own resources, was not only preacher, teacher, and translator; he was also doctor and dentist, carpenter Heralds of the Dawn 219 and blacksmith. He went on the first of his long evangelizing tours, braving both sav- age beasts and savage men, while Mrs. Moffat stayed behind with the children and braved i)erils quite as serious. At another time Moffat, bent on mastering the native tongue once for all, spent several months among distant natives, that he might not hear his own language spoken. Mary Moffat was a constant inspiration ^^^y Moffat to her husband. No missionary ever had a truer heli)meet. ^^ Robert can never say that I hindered him in his work ! ' ' she said, with wifely pride, upon one occasion. ^'No, indeed, '' Moffat assured the listener, ''but I can tell you she has often sent me away from home for months together for evan- gelizing purposes, and in my absence has managed the station as well or better than I could have done it myself!'' Her faith was wonderful. Many years after, when Moffat was called upon to give up the com- panionship which had so devotedly been his, his heart uttered the one pathetic cry, "For fifty-three years I have had her to pray for me!" An incident connected with Mrs. Mof- pra7eJ^^ fat's prayers occurred at Kuruman, when, after eight years of toiling and praying I^aying: Foundations 220 Daybreak in the Dark Continent and waiting, the nucleus of a church was gathered. Moffat wisely would admit to membership only such as had proved them- selves worthy through a period of testing. They baptized six and they partook of the first communion (1829). It was a memora- ble service. Over two years before, when matters had seemed almost as hopeless as at the beginning, Mrs. Motfat had written to a friend in England who had inquired whether there was not some special gift she would like: ^'Send us a communion service; we shall want it some day." The communion service reached the mission the day before that first celebration of the Lord's Supper by the native Christians. It was a happy providence. It was the token of answered prayer. It was an added link binding Christian England to the Christian Africa to be. After the baptism of these converts Rob- ert and Mary Moffat for forty-one years continued to lay the foundations of Christianity in Bechuanaland. There were more helpers as time went on, but Moffat was the leader always. He was at the head and in the heart of the work. He gave the people first one, then all of the gospels; then the whole New Testament and the Heralds of the Dawn 221 Psalms; and finally the entire Bible, in their own language. The natives learned to trust him. The chiefs confided in him. At times when new stations were to be started it was he who went to negotiate with the chiefs and to see that the mission- aries were well received and comfortably housed. Moffat's interest in Bechuanaland was Monat^s Continued perennial, and after his wife's death, which interest occurred in 1871 — the year following their return to England — he more than once, in spite of his advanced age, offered to go back to Africa. So far as his strength allowed, however, his remaining years (he lived until 1883) were spent in stirring the home churches to a lively zeal for African mis- sions. He was a favorite speaker. His appear- gpfaile/"* ance always aroused great enthusiasm. It is said that at the London Mission Confer- ence of 1878 Moffat, then eighty-three years of age, held the close attention of the assemblage while, in ''a voice still strong and musical," he talked upon his beloved theme. ''The vast audience, upon discov- ering Moffat's presence, had risen spon- taneously." The report of the occurrence contains this tribute; ''Whom see we com- 222 Daybreak In the Dark Continent David lilvlngratone Into tike Interior ing up the aisle? Who is the old man'? Is it Beaconslieldl Is it Gladstone? No. 'Nothing but a missionary.' There is but one other person in the realm, I take it, to whom in the circumstances so united and enthusiastic a tribute would be paid — and to her because she is on the throne.'' In 1840, during Moffat's one furlough home, he told David Livingstone^ that he had often seen, rising in the morning sunlight, the smoke of a thou- sand villages where the gospel had never been preached. That picture of spiritual darkness was never effaced from Livingstone's mind. In 1841, having completed his medical training, he reached South Africa, and proceeded directly to the regions beyond the outmost mission sta- tion, where for eight years he was occupied with the labors of an aggressive mission- ary.' With his thought always upon the ^ ' vast district to the north where no missionary had been, ' ' Livingstone pushed farther and ^W. Garden Blaikie, Personal Life of David Living- stone; Story of the London Missionary Society; Henry M. Stanley, How I Found Livingstone; Living- stone's Works. * Livingstone upon his arrival in Africa had been made welcome at the home of Robert Moffat, and later he married Mary Moffat, the daughter. Heralds of the Dawn 223 farther into the interior, preaching and teaching as he went. Gradually this man of vision was becoming possessed of the passion to answer his own question, oft re- peated during the years of growing interest in unexplored Central Africa and of awak- ening concern for the unredeemed millions of its people : ' ' Who will penetrate through Africa ! ' ^ His experience in the Makololo country, near the Zambezi River, settled him in a determination to make the attempt himself. Slave gangs for the foreign (mostly Noumea by Arab) trade were continually passing on siave Trade their way to the coast, and Livingstone's heart was moved with a great pity for the sufferers from the traffic, while his very soul was fired with indignation at the pro- moters of it. He came to believe that its death-blow would be struck if the interior could be thrown open to Christianity and legitimate trade. Livingstone's extensive journeys date i^ Journeyinars from this period. It was for the purpose of demonstrating the practicability of a transcontinental caravan route that in 1853 he undertook the long and extremely peril- ous journey from Linyanti to the West Coast, and thence, returning across the con- 2 24 Daybreak in the Dark Continent tinent, to Quilimane on the East Coast. Henceforth until his death in 1873 he was never at rest. After 1856 he was no longer directly connected with his missionary so- ciety, his explorations being carried for- This Map Covers the Bantu , Section of Africa Capetown [^•\ /fiver jj- J^*-MOZAr+- (VICTORIA ^ifSte^^'^,'^ ^ \/r~~^ I between i+ie periocl& K0LOBENG?K«<-.—> From 1866 tol873>-> C.H.MORSAN The Tlioiigrlit of the World Turned to Africa ward under the patronage of the British Government and of the Royal Geographical Society. The thought of the civilized world was turned toward the Dark Continent. Liv- Heralds of the Dawn 225 ingstone's writings, which contain vivid descriptions of the life and customs of the peoples among whom he journeyed, ap- pealed to Christian hearts to take them the gospel ; his addresses when in England, passionate in their earnestness, appealed to Christian civilization to heal the ^^open sore of the world" by stamping out the slave trade ; his life, so unreservedly given to a cause which called out all of the hero- ism of his noble character, appealed to every one everywhere to see Africa and her people as he saw them. Thus by over- reaching the bounds ordinarily set for mis- sionary activity did he become the more missionary in his influence. Greatly honored as was the missionary Honored and •^ '' Loved bnt explorer, deeply loved as was the man, the Loneiy loneliness of his life was inevitable. One glimpse of the longing that sometimes swept over him is found in the record made in his journal just after his wife's death. She had accompanied him upon his second expedition, but had died at the outset. Her husband laid her body to rest under a great baobab tree at Shupanga, on the Zambezi. He wrote: ^^I loved her when I married her, and the longer I lived with her I loved her the more. . . . Oh, my Mary, my Meetlngr xvitli Stanley 226 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Mary ! how have we longed for a quiet home since yon and I were cast adrift at Kolo- beng !^ Snrely the removal by a kind Father means that he rewarded you by taking you to the best home, the eternal one in the heavens/^ In 1871, in the midst of the exploration of the lake region, occurred the famous meeting at Ujiji with Henry M. Stanley. Stanley had been commissioned by James Gordon Bennett, of the New York Herald, to find Livingstone regardless of cost. ^'Take what you want, but find Living- stone,'^ were his orders. The world had believed Livingstone to be lost, but the world had simply lost sight of his stren- uous life for several years. He was ab- sorbed in a great undertaking, and his spirit was straitened until he should ac- complish his purpose. Again his journal is the mirror of the man. On his fifty-ninth birthday he wrote: "I again dedicate my whole self to thee. Accept me, and grant, gracious Father, that ere this year is gone I may finish my task. In Jesus ' name 1 ask it. Amen: so let it be. David Liv- ingstone.'' After eleven months of hard- * Kolobeng was one of Livingstone's early mission stations. See map, page 224, for his main journeys and stations. Heralds of the Dawn 227 ship and suffering Stanley found Living- stone. The greeting was hearty, but char- acteristic. ''I am thankful to be here to welcome you," was his response to Stan- ley's greeting. It was not the response of a lost man, but rather of one who was ^^ big- ger than anything that could happen to him." Together the two greatest explorers of ^*^*"J^^" the nineteenth century explored Lake Tan- ganyika, and Stanley's account of their companionship abounds with expressions of appreciation of Livingstone's genuine worth. After taking leave of him Stanley says: "For four months and four days I lived with him in the same hut, or the same boat, or the same tent, and I never found a fault in him. I went to Africa as preju- diced against religion as the worst infidel in London. To a reporter like myself, who had only to deal with wars, mass meetings, and political gatherings, sentimental mat- ters were quite out of my province. But there came to me a long time for reflection. I was out there away from a worldly world. I saw this solitary old man there, and I ask- ed myself, ^ Why does he stop here ? What is it that inspires him ? ' For months after we met I found myself listening to him, wondering at the old man carrying out the 2 28 Daybreak in the Dark Continent lil-vinarBtone's Deatb A Fragrrant Life words, * Leave all and follow me.' But little by little, seeing his piety, his gentleness, his zeal, his earnestness, and how he went quietly about his business, I was converted by him, although he had not tried to do it. ' ' Livingstone died at Chitambo, in Ilala, on the shores of Lake Bangweolo, May 1, 1873. His black servants found him at four o 'clock in the morning upon his knees at his bedside, his candle still burning. The weariness and painfulness, the watchings, the hunger and thirst, the fastings, the lone- liness, were all past. Livingstone, too, had entered the ' ' best home. ' '^ Henry Drummond, after his travels through east Central Africa, testified: ^'Wherever David Livingstone's footsteps are crossed in Africa the fragrance of his memory seems to remain. ' ' Colliard wrote from the Barotsi country: ^'I have found the traces and memories of Livingstone here. ... In Europe people admired the in- trepid traveler, but one must come here, where he has lived, to admire the man. If some travelers have engraved their names on the rocks and tree trunks, he has en- ^ Livingstone's heart was buried in Africa. His body was carried by his faithful servants to England and with much ceremony was laid to rest in West- minster Abbey. Heralds of the Dawn 229 graved his in the very hearts of the heathen population of Central Africa. Wherever Livingstone has passed the name of mis- sionary is a passport and recommendation. Whether I will or not, I am Dr. Living- stone's successor. Thus it is that the first missionary that comes by is invested with the boots of this giant." John Mackenzie/ the missionary states- man, and David Livingstone, the mission- ary explorer, in some respects reflect and complement each other. They began their careers under the London Missionary So- ciety and among the Bechuanas of South Africa. Their intense zeal for every inter- est of the native led them into very large and useful activities in addition to the or- dinary missionary program. The ''by- products" of their labors were of greater moment than their direct missionary en- deavor. Just as Livingstone did greater service by blazing paths through unex- plored regions than he possibly could have performed in the usual method on a sta- tion, so Mackenzie multiplied the mission- ary significance of his life by promoting the expansion of British empire over the ^ W. Douglas Mackenzie, John Mackenzie, South African Missionary and Statesman. John Mackenzie 230 Daybreak in the Dark Continent regions Livingstone explored. He thus saved native states from annihilation by the Boers and ensured thebest colonial rule in the world to vast stretches of Africa. AAmuSmtra- Bcfore thc close of Mackenzie's resi- ****'' dence at Shoshong/ he had assumed the re- sponsibility of arbitrator between natives and Europeans. His practical suggestions as to the administration of native states under British protection led Sir Bartle Frere, High Commissioner of South Af- rica, to urge him to accept the office of Com- missioner of Bechuanaland, at a salary of $5,000 per year. But Mackenzie was not looking for an office. He would accept the appointment only in case it could be com- bined, as his unofficial administration had been, with his chosen work. Yet, while he was in accord with the principle that a missionary should keep free from secular and political entanglements, he was thor- oughly convinced that the critical state of affairs demanded that ''the highest type of missionary in Bechuanaland must assist the chief with whom he resides in political matters." A Continental Mackeuzic 's visiou, like Livingstone's, was continental. Necessarily his mission- ^ See map, page 184. Heralds of the Dawn 23 1 ary statecraft centered about Bechuana- land, but the action concerning that coun- try would affect all South Africa, and, in- deed, all British Africa. The Boers were encroaching upon Bechuanaland. For Eng- land to withdraw her protection would be to hand over another South African race to the plunder of its cattle and the confisca- tion of its land. Therefore, at a time when the Governor of Cape Colony would not send an exploring expedition northward (although the Cape Parliament had made provision for it), because he was afraid it might lead to political obligations over na- tive peoples; at a time when England would not accept Bechuanaland as a free gift from her people ; before Joseph Cham- berlain advocated imperial expansion, and before Cecil Ehodes had dreamed of his Cape to Cairo railway, Mackenzie had pleaded : ' ' Let England come forward and avowedly take charge of and direct the northward progress of Europeans in South Africa.'* He saw clearly that his policy meant the occupation by England of as much of Africa as would not conflict with other European powers, but he longed for his nation to accept the responsibility that Africa might reap the benefits. Political Educator 232 Daybreak in the Dark Continent When Mackenzie took his first furlough, in 1883, there was little sympathy in Eng- land for his schemes for British expansion northward. Few knew much about the sit- uation and fewer cared. With the convic- tion that he was contending for the wel- fare of a continent, he threw himself into the political arena of England as an edu- cator upon territorial expansion. He wrote articles for the Pall Mall Gazette, the Nine- teenth Century, the Contemporary Review and other leading periodicals. He inter- viewed statesmen like John Morley, Lord Shaftesbury, and Mr. Chamberlain. He ad- vised with philanthropists like Dr. Dale and Sir T. Fowell Buxton. He buttonholed politicians. He haunted the lobbies of the House of Commons and addressed audi- ences throughout the land. Except for a sliort absence in South Africa, such was his work from 1882 to 1891. Had his policy been immediately adopted and vigorously carried out, as it was during his brief ad- ministration as Deputy Commissioner, it is morally certain that much injustice to- ward the native and much bitterness be- tween English and Boer, and even the South African war itself, would have been avoided. His ' ' territorial system ' ' of gov- Heralds of the Dawn 233 ernment is to-day incorporated in the best features of British protectorates. While Mackenzie suffered the usual ex- RejLc^ed** perience of a prophet — rejection by those upon whom the working out of his schemes depended — he saw a beginning of that im- perial policy whichj through much indirec- tion and consequent bloodshed, is finally fulfilling the purpose of his earnest devo- tion as missionary, political agitator, edu- cator, administrator, statesman. Upon his first departure for South Africa, after arousing England to her obligation and privilege, the Pall Mall Gazette paid him a tribute that was even more fitting seven years later, when he reassumed his connec- tion with the London Missionary Society as missionary at Hankey, Cape Colony. An editorial in this prominent paper extolling his work closed with the words: "Here- after he will live in the annals of our em- pire as the man who, at a grave crisis, saved Africa for England. ' ' In 1875 Stanley's appeal for mission- aries to be sent to Uganda fell under the notice of Alexander Mackay,^ chief con- structor in a great engineering factory near ^Alexander M. Mackay, by his sister. Alexander M. Mackay 234 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Berlin. ''My heart burns for the deliver- ance of Africa, ' ^ he immediately wrote the Church Missionary Society, "and if you can send me to any of those regions which Livingstone and Stanley have found to be groaning under the curse of the slave hunter I shall be very glad/' Mackay's farewell speech to the Board of Directors is characteristic. ' ' There is one thing which my brethren have not said and which I wish to say. I want to remind the commit- tee that within six months they will prob- ably hear that one of us is dead. Yes, is it at all likely that eight Englishmen should start for Central Africa and all be alive six months after! One of us at least — it may be I — will surely fall before that. When that news comes do not be cast down, but send some one else immediately to take the vacant place. ' ' Within three months one was dead. Within a year two more had fallen, and within two years Mackay was the only one left in the field. For twelve years he defied fever and persecution, the intrigues of Romanists and Mohammedans, the martyrdom of his converts, and at- tempts upon his own life. During all those anxious years he stood practically alone, consecrating his mechanical genius, his Heralds of the Dawn 235 acute diplomacy, his splendid scholarship, and his tireless energy to an ingrate people. He was finally driven out of the land where only a scattered following remained. He died in exile. His last letter responded to appeals to give up and come home in a manner that fitted his brave words to the committee twelve years before. "What is this you write — ' come home ' ? Surely now, in our terrible dearth of workers, it is not a time for any one to desert his post. Send us only our first twenty men, and I may be tempted to come and help you to find another twenty." Alexander Mackay did not live to see the fruitage of his labors, but he has an enduring monu- ment in the wonderful work of the Uganda mission. Melville B. Cox was an invalid before he ^ewiiie b. coi went to Africa. He had retired from the pastorate. Without strength to preach at home his heart yearned for the privilege of at least laying his body in foreign soil that his grave might be one sermon of the death- less passion of the Christ. The bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church had for seven years been looking for a suitable per- son who was willing to go to Africa. As a 236 Daybreak in the Dark Continent forlorn hope Cox was appointed. How- ever unsuitable physically, he was eminent- ly *^fit" in willingness and zeal. *'If I die in Africa you must come and write my epi- taph, ' ' he said to a friend before going. ' ^ I will,'' was the answer, "but what shall I writer' ''Write," flashed back the pro- phetic response, ''Let a thousand fall be- fore Africa be given up !" Cox arrived in Liberia Marcli 8, 1833, and died July 21 of the same year. Four months and three weeks of service ! As the pioneer mission- ary of his church, — "Right in the van, on the red rampart's slippery- swell. With heart that beat a charge, he fell forward as fits a man; But the high soul burns on to light men's feet, Where death for noble ends makes dying sweet." If it should be said that Cox's life was wasted the answer is that there was no longer a dearth of volunteers for Africa, for Cox's zeal proved contagious, and from that day to this his heroic example has been an inspiration to the church which he repre- sented. Adoipima c. Adolphus C. Good as cheerfully devoted his splendid physique to Africa as Cox his frail body. For twelve years (1882-94) he Heralds of the Dawn 237 extended and established the Presbyterian work in the interior of the Gabun. He com- bined in a rare degree the talents of a pio- neer, evangelist, organizer, and educator. At the root of all his plans was faith in the native, as well as in the gospel which was to save him. Of his savage parish he said : ' ' Out of these rough, unlovely blacks might be wrought beautiful images of Christ. They are material out of which saints may be made.'' This faith found expression in a masterful character that dauntlessly faced tremendous obstacles. '^The emer- gency against which I shall most carefully provide is failure,'' he wrote as he was planning one of his most extended tours. *^I know that treasure must be expended and lives sacrificed if this region is to be evangelized. ... If this journey shall open a road for the light to enter this dark region into which I have penetrated a little way, I shall never regret the toil. I do hope God's people in America will see to it that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain." In his last delirium he would at one time be preaching to the Bulu, for whose evangelization he had overtaxed his strength, ^^ Listen carefully, and we will tell you about Christ" ; and then praying to the Samuel Ji. Lapsley 238 Daybreak in the Dark Continent same purpose, ^'May good men never be wanting to carry forward the work. ' ' The story of the life in Africa of Samuel N. Lapsley, as his diary and his letters tell it, reads like a vivid sketch of a summer trip abroad. His is a case where ' ' genuine and exalted piety formed the warp and woof of one of the sunniest of characters.'' Born of a line of noble Southern ancestry, gifted with a brilliant mind, fitted by nature to move in the most select circles, Lapsley 's choice of his lifework was based upon the fact that Africa was the worst field, and therefore the most in need of missionaries. Sailing from New York on February 26, 1890, he went out to found the Congo mis- sion of the Presbyterian Church (South), the particular location being left to his judgment. After many months spent in essential preliminaries which included a visit to Belgium and an audience with the king, he at last began a settled work at Luebo, on the Kassai River, a most strate- gic center, as later developments have shown. The young missionary by this time had proved himself possessed of excep- tional qualities of leadership. Now, with even greater zest because of his eagerness Heralds of the Dawn 239 to be about his Father's business in the more definite way of soul- winning, he threw his energies into building up the station. The future was full of promise. He was be- ginning to preach in the native tongue and was winning native confidence. Then there came a sudden break. No more breezy let- ters. No more cheery messages. In the journal on his way to Africa he had record- ed this petition: ^^Let this Book be my time-book ; God my Time-keeper. ' ' His life exemplified half of that prayer, and on March 26, 1892, before he had rounded out twenty-six years, his Time-keeper called. The eager, buoyant spirit, absent from the body, was present with the Lord. It was under the influence of a rare Sab- Thomas j. bath school teacher that Thomas J. Com- "* ber, an English lad, resolved to become a missionary. Mr. Kickard was the personal friend of each of his scholars. Genuine himself, he taught them to be Christians of a hearty, wholesome type. ''Mind,'' he would warn them at their class prayer meeting, ''if I catch you saying anything you heard the minister say last Sunday, or repeating the petitions of a deacon at the prayer meeting, I '11 stop you at once. ' ' Liv- 240 Daybreak in the Dark Continent ing a consecrated life himself, he could ap- peal to their boyish earnestness. An Easter morning brought the lesson of the Great Commission. He told the class of his last- ing regret because he was not a missionary, and then appealed to them, as his own boys, — would not one of them go in his place, do the work which he had been hindered from doing? There was no spoken response, but Comber's resolution was made. After- wards, at the class meetings, his prayer al- ways included the petition : * ^ I want to be a missionary, to go into the darkness and bring Thy light into it, to tell the heathen of the Saviour who is waiting to help and save them as He has saved me." The decision for his lifeworkiwas reached when Comber was about fourteen. At twenty-four he was on the field (1876). At thirty-four his was one of those lonely graves which have been the stepping-stones of Christianity into interior Africa. It was a short life, but a life full of eager toil. Vianga-Vianga, ** restless activity," the natives whom he loved, and who loved him, called him. Stanley said of him, ** Wher- ever your Comber went there was life and activity. Again and again, as I looked at him, he reminded me of the young man with EVANGELISTIC MISSIONS A NATIVE WORKER PREACHING IN A KRAAL, EAST AFRICA BAPTISMAL SCENE, CONGO COUNTRY Heralds of the Dawn 241 the banner on which was the word ^Excel- sior.' " ^'A man going on this mission should have a head well screwed on, ' ' someone re- marked upon his appointment to the pio- neering work of the Congo mission, "and our Comber is that man. ' ' On one occasion six volunteers were wanted, but responses were slow. When Comber heard of this he wrote, ' ' Six men, forsooth ! Why, as Bent- ley says, ^If it were a gold mine we had dis- covered, it would be easy to find men ready to come to Africa.' " He lived long enough to see the gathering of the first-fruits of the mission, for in 1886 occurred the ''Pentecost on the Congo. ''^ ''And what shall I say moreT' For the time would fail me to tell of Wilson, the brave Southerner in the Gabun ; the quaint and beloved Lindley and the saintly Tyler among the Zulus, Grenfell and Richards and Sims on the Congo, Waddell in Old Cal- abar, Bishop Steere in East Africa, and the grand old hero. Bishop William Taylor, who, though devoted to what proved an ex- treme or premature form of self-support- ing missions, nevertheless held Africa be- ^ The name, "The Pentecost on the Congo," has been given to the revival in 1886, when over 1,000 Pagans declared themselves Christians. Otber Pioneers 242 Daybreak in the Dark Continent fore his church until he revived the en- thusiasm that followed the death of Cox/ The women who have done what they could, and what men could not do for Africa, form a noble band/ Missionaries Thcro havc bccu other missionaries Service who havc barclj reached Africa; others whose work has extended over only a few- months ; others who have lived to serve but a few years ; but they all have been as truly heralds of the dawn as are those who have seen the shadows flee away. '^A queer country this is, where the only things of in- terest you have to show me are the graves!" said a newcomer. *^Yes,'' was the answer, "but they are the milestones of Christianity to regions beyond.'' The spirit of those who give these milestones meaning is expressed in the words of a pio- neer: "Though every step be over the grave of a missionary, Africa must be re- deemed. ' ' In harmony with this sentiment is the exclamation of the Zulu: "0 white ^H. C. DuBose, John Leighton Wilson; Josiah Tyler, Forty Years Among the Zulus ; J. B. Myers, Congo for Christ; History of American Baptist Missions; William Dickie, Story of the Mission in Old Calabar; Story of the Universities' Missions; William Taylor, The Flaming Torch in Africa; and similar works. 2 Mrs. J. T. Gracey, Eminent Missionary Women; and histories of the various general and women's societies. Heralds of the Dawn 243 meu, nothing conquers you but death!" Lieutenant Shergold Smith, Thomas ^Neill, Bishop Parker, and others who fell as they were about to enter Uganda, each could have uttered the cry of Bishop Han- nington 's martyr lips : ^ ' I have purchased the road to Uganda with my life!'' Said Bishop Mackenzie : ' ' If I had a thousand lives to live Africa should have them all." His lonely death in Central Africa redupli- cated his life, in that it gave to other men the impulse to offer theirs in the work of the Universities' Missions. There are scores upon scores who, in the various mis- sions of the lake district and the Congo basin, and along the West Coast up to Li- beria, have not counted their lives dear unto themselves. Their sacrifice has not been in vain. Their very martyrdom has hastened the day of Africa 's redemption. "While it is impossible to tell of the Ti!day ^''**'' **' achievements of the missionaries of to-day in Africa, the chapter must not close with- out paying a tribute to those who are doing heroic work: men and women who reveal in themselves that Africa demands of her missionaries the best education,^ the 'The misconception is altogether too current that those whose mental equipment is insufficient for mis- sionary work in China, India or Japan, will do for 244 Daybreak In the Dark Continent finest culture/ the graces of adaptation, evangelistic power, and abounding zeal. Like Zinzendorf, they have '^but one pas- sion — He, He alone ! ' ' With Raymond Lull they realize that ^^he who loves not lives not, and he who lives by the Life cannot die/' Africa. On the contrary, it is a question whether it does not require more mental alertness and strength to grapple with the subtleties of unwritten languages and the intricacies of unsystematized religions, to give the one alphabet and grammar, to trace the other to its multiplied hiding-places, in strange modes of thought and deep-rooted customs, and to match it with the gospel, than it does to acquire written lan- guages, however diflBcult, and to master well-formed religious systems, however profound. At any rate, the "will do" will not do for Africa any more than for any other field. ^This emphasis upon the importance of culture — that all-inclusive personal equipment — as a pre- requisite in a missionary to savages may seem strange. But it does not seem strange to those who have seen the African in his native dignity, keenly sensitive to slight deviations from gentle instincts on the part of the white stranger. The hut into which one must crawl on hands and knees may be con- structed of poles, mud, and swamp grasses; the in- terior may be devoid of stool, table, or couch, and the host be clad in a plentiful supply of palm oil and red clay, but "a man's a man for a' that," quick to dis- cern the finer qualities of character. Heralds of the Dawn 245 QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER VII. Aim: To Learn What the Lives of African Mis- sionaries Have to Teach. (It will be better to gain deep impressions from a very few of these lives than more superficial impres- sions from all of them.) I ... 1 Do you consider that Lull's extensive prepara- tion was justified? 2 Would his courage have been more inspiring if he had not known fear? 3* What do you think of the method he employed with the Moslems? 4 What, after all, is the principal lesson to you of his life? (Ask yourself this question in regard to each of the lives you study. The answer may be quite different from anything suggested by the printed questions.) II 5 What inspiration to take up missionary work in Africa had George Schmidt compared with what we have to-day? 6* Compare his difllculties with those of mission- aries at present. 7 What is your estimation of the value of his work? III... 8* Sum up the reasons for calling Krapf a great missionary. 9 Would his ideas have been just as valuable if he had not suffered such hardships? 10 How is Krapf's scheme being carried out? IV... 11 What special difficulties confronted Moffat in his work? 12 Describe what you think were his feelings as he faced the chief and his armed band. 246 Daybreak In the Dark Continent 13 What should you say were the most prominent traits in Moffat's character. 14 What impresses you most in regard to Mrs. Mof- fat? 15* Just why do you think the audience at the Lon- don Missionary Conference paid Moffat such a tribute? V...16* State what you understand to be the life- work that Livingstone set himself. 17 What were his motives? 18 What do you think were the best things in life that Livingstone had to miss? 19 Was he justified in sacrificing all that he did? 20* What do you think it was in him that made such an impression on men? VI . . . 21* Why was Mackenzie so anxious that Eng- land should annex Bechuanaland? 22* Under what conditions have European powers the right to establish protectorates in Africa? 23 To what do you ascribe Mackenzie's life suc- cesses? VII. . .24 What attracted Mackay toward Africa? 25 Had the Missionary Society any right to waste life as it did? 26 What were the real results of Mackay's work? VIII... 27 In what way was Cox's life multiplied? IX. . .28 What were the characteristics of Good that made him a great missionary? 29 In what way was the last message of Good prophetic? X...30 How was Lapsley peculiarly fitted for the Kassai Valley work? 31 How shall we connect the work of Lapsley with the future of the Kassai Valley? XI... 32 How does the missionary call of Comber show us a rare opportunity? 33 What great life principle is illustrated in the lives of Cox, Good, Lapsley, and Comber? Heralds of the Dawn 247 XII. ..34 What is your impression as to the type of African missionaries as compared with that of the great leaders in the home land? References for Papers or Talks. I. . .Sacrifice and Heroism of Missionaries, Barnes — Two Thousand Years of Missions Before Carey, pp. 205-208. Blaikie — The Personal Life of David Livingstone, pp. 98, 99, 118, 119, 183-185, 236, 237, 336, 455, 456, 499-501. Harrison — Mackay of Uganda, Chs. XI, XIII. Jack — Daybreak in Livingstonia, Ch. XVI. Mullins — Tlie Wonderful Story of Uganda, Ch. I. II . . . Prayer and Missions. Mott — The Pastor and Modern Missions, Ch. V. Murray — The Key of the Missionary Problem, Chs. IV, V, VI. Pierson — The New Acts of the Apostles, Pt. II, Ch. I; Pt. V, Ch. VIII. Speer — Prayer and Missions. III. . .Missionary Statesmen. Blaikie — Personal Life of David Livingstone, Ch. XXIII. Griffis— Verbeck of Japan, Ch. XIV. Liggins — The Great Value and Success in Foreign Missions, pp. 230-232. Mackenzie — John Mackenzie, South African Mis- sionary and Statesman, Chs. XVII, XIX. DAYBREAK Message to King Leopold and President McKinley from Ndombe, "King of the Bashibieng, paramount chieftain by appointment of Chimpellanga, of the Biomba, Bashilele, Bampende, Benafula, and Bin- dundu: "Ndombe to the great kings and to their white chil- dren, according to the Word of God, of which I have heard much of late. Greeting: "Ndombe requests the great white kings to send out to his country men who have good hearts to help the black people, to teach them, to keep the peace with them, and to be their friends. To such men our hearts are open, and behold! the land is theirs. When these things shall be done all shall be well in the country of Ndombe, from the waters of all the great rivers even unto the mountains of the setting sun." — Adapted from Verner's Pioneering in Central Africa. VIII DAYBREAK The glory of past successes and the pres- Fatness*""/' ent optimistic outlook furnish a wholesome Africa corrective to any gloomy impressions that may arise on account of the numerous and formidable obstacles to African missions. The following sketches are valuable be- cause of their bearing upon the eminent fit- ness of Christianity for Africa. They pre- sent evidences of the present operating power of the Son of God in Africa as con- vincing as the casting out of devils and the reviving of the dead in Palestine. Africaner^ was a Hottentot desperado of Namaqualand. With a few hundred fol- lowers he terrorized alike the neighboring tribes and the Dutch farmers. The gov- ernment at Cape Town offered $500 reward for his arrest or death. It was under the patronage of such an outlaw that Robert Moffat opened his first mission in 1818.^ ' John S. MofEat, Robert and Mary Moffat. ^ Moffat had been preceded by missionaries who had been driven out after a brief stay. 251 Africaner 252 Daybreak in the Dark Continent The white settlers had regaled the ears of the young missionary with the predic- tions that he would be made a target for the arrows of the small boy savages, his skin would be used for drum-heads, and his skull for a drinking-cup. One kindly mother-heart, with an odd mixture of harshness, yearned over Moffat's youth: ^ ^ Had you been an old man, it would have been nothing, for you would soon have died, whether or no ; but you are so young, and going to be a prey to that monster ! ' ' Within a year after these dire forebodings Moffat, with Africaner disguised as his at- tendant, was again among the Dutch farm- ers. He was taking the Hottentot chief to Cape Town to demonstrate to the govern- ment the marvelous fact that the savage had been supplanted by a new man in Jesus Christ. It had been reported that the mis- sionary had fallen a victim to the cruel whim of his bloodthirsty patron. That the love of Grod should have conquered Afri- caner seemed beyond credence. Here was and is complete proof that God's power to transform life is not limited. The range of that power is from the uttermost sin to the uttermost righteousness. After five years of faithful Christian life Africaner Daybreak 253 gave his people his death-bed charge (1822) : ^*We are not what we were — sav- ages, but men, professing to be taught ac- cording to the gospel. Let us then do ac- cordingly. My former life is stained with blood, but Jesus Christ has pardoned me. Beware of falling into the same evils into which I have frequently led you. Seek God, and He will be f ou^d of you to direct you. ' ' Samuel Adjai Crowther^ is another con- spicuous trophy of African missions. Born of the relatively inferior Yorubas, west of the lower Niger, he was captured by Fulah slavers in 1821, traded for a horse, con- signed to a Portuguese slave ship, liberated by an English man-of-war, placed in a mis- sion school at Free Town, Sierra Leone, taken to England to complete his education, sent as a missionary to his own people along the Niger, consecrated Bishop of the Niger in Canterbury Cathedral in 1864, transferred to his eternal reward December 31, 1891. Such, in brief, is the biography of an African slave and Christian freeman — one of the great missionary characters of the nineteenth century. ^ Jesse Page, Samuel Crowther. CroTvtlier 2 54 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Moolu Moolu's Relislui The average, every-day commoner of Africa, when a true Christian, also pre- sents a wholesome example. Drummond^s journal records the fidelity of Moolu, one of his attendants in his journey through east Central Africa. Of the first meeting with this man he writes: "I cherish no more sacred memory than that of a communion service in the little Bandawe chapel, when the sacramental cup was handed to me by the bare black arm of a native communi- cant. And," he adds, with that simplicity and sincere humility which made his such a charming personality, ^'a communicant whose life, tested afterward in many an hour of trial with me, gave him, perhaps, a better right to be there than any of us. ' ' Drummond habitually held an informal Sunday evening service with his men, and Moolu sometimes ^^ undertook the sermon." ^^He discoursed with great eloquence on the Tower of Babel. The preceding Sun- day he had waxed equally warm over the Rich Man and Lazarus ; and his description of the Rich Man in terms of native ideas of wealth — 'plenty of calico, plenty of beads !' • — was a thing to remember. I never saw Moolu do an inconsistent thing. He could neither read nor write ; he knew only some Daybreak 255 dozen words of English. But I could trust him with everything. He was not * pious'; he was neither bright nor clever; he was a commonplace black; but he did his duty and never told a lie. The first night of our camp, after I had gone to rest, I remember being roused by a low talking. I looked out of my tent ; a flood of moonlight lit up the forest; and there, kneeling upon the ground, was a little group of natives, and Moolu in the center, conducting evening prayers. Every night afterward this serv- ice was repeated, no matter how long the march nor how tired the men. I make no comment. But this I will say: Moolu 's life gave him the right to do it. I believe in missions, for one thing, because I believe in Moolu.''' Paul, the '^Apostle of the Congo," was ^,fe ^on "o ^ **' another of these "commonplace blacks." The Eev. Henry Richards tells his story." "There was one man, the son of a chief, who did all that he could to oppose the gospel. He would take his drum and some wine and begin to dance to call the people away from the service. The weak ones ^Henry Drummond, Tropical Africa. ^Henry Richards, Paul the Apostle of Banza Man- teke. (A pamphlet.) 256 Daybreak in the Dark Continent would sometimes go and join in the dance. The sound of the drum seemed to electrify them; it reminded them of Pagan times. Sometimes, when this man, whose name was Nloko (meaning 'a curse') could not draw the people away from the meetings, he would come in and drive them out by making a great commotion. ' ' But the time came when this Saul, '*yet breathing out threatenings, " heard the heavenly voice and experienced a radical conversion. * ^ Nloko was baptized. I gave him the name of Paul, because his experience was so much like that of the Apostle. The man seemed to be full of the Holy Spirit. ' ' He was eager to preach. He asked for the hardest place, one where it had previously been impossible to gain admittance for the gospel. After some preparatory training he went to Kinkanza. The people would not receive him. He then pitched his old tent outside the Pagan town and began his siege. Cold and dampness and hunger were his companions, but he was steadfast. panrs First For mouths there were no converts. Fi- nally one man dared to say, *'I am a Chris- tian. ' ' Immediately he was rejected by his townspeople. Then Paul had a neighbor. A small hut was built near his tent and the Convert Daybreak 257 new convert moved in. Gradually the little community grew. A chapel accommodat- ing 300 people was built. This little com- pany of Christians, just from Paganism themselves, were soon sending teachers to other towns and paying their expenses. ''All that Paul seemed to think of was Passion for Souls souls; he dreamed of souls and how he could win them. Of course," concludes Mr. Eichards, ''we have not many Pauls. He is a born preacher. No man's prayers seem to help me as much as his. I am as- tonished at the man's power. He preaches the gospel of the Cross. That is what breaks down the Pagan." Before Paul died (1902), his church numbered 600 members, all con- verted under his personal evangelism. This number included none of the converts in the towns where his missionary teachers had gone. His people continue to carry the mes- sage across the Congo to their heathen neighbors, and its influence is widening. King Khama,^ of Bechuanaland, South Khama Africa, is a living witness to the fact that the power of the gospel can make great and good men from material that many despise and in an environment that would test ^Mrs. Wyndham Knight Bruce, The Story of an 'African Chief . See map, page 184. 258 Daybreak in the Dark Continent metal of the finest temper. Having eagerly- responded to the gospel message, for years he endured the bitterest sort of persecu- tion. His father was both chief and sor- cerer, and wished Khama to become his suc- cessor in the double office. Through in- numerable petty annoyances, continual calumny and murderous treachery Khama bore himself as a dutiful son, except where filial obedience crossed godliness , with for- bearance, gentleness, patience, and dignity. His steadfastness to Christ never wavered. The people were not slow to discover the superior quality of the son, and, after some years of conservative hesitation, chose Khama as chief in his father's stead (1872). Khama's The couutry having been opened to trade witii England under the protection of England, Khama, in 1895, visited Great Britain and made an ^'interesting and impressive progress through England and Scotland. ' ' With the humility of a truly great character, Khama recognizes and acknowledges the influence of Christianity and its exponents upon him- • self. At one crucial period in his relations with England he turned to Mackenzie, whom, as a loved friend, he welcomed again among his people after years of separation, Daybreak 259 saying : ^ ' I shall lean on you as in the olden time; stop me if I go wrong. '^ The firm, straightforward simplicity of a Firm Rnier this South African ''Alfred the Great/' as he is sometimes called, may be illustrated by his position on the liquor question. It puts to shame the weak duplicity of leaders and peoples in lands which for a much longer time have been inheritors of the gos- pel. The white man's drink is prohibited from crossing the boundaries of Bechuana- land. Native beer is also abolished. These prohibitive laws are actively effective. They are rigidly enforced, and severe pen- alties are visited upon offenders. The white traders forced Khama to prohibition of Foreign strenuous legislation — a bit of statecraft Liiiior worthy the publicity it has received. Liquor dealers elsewhere are credited with pertinacity. Khama found that his oppo- nents lived up to the reputation of the fra- ternity. Warning followed warning. Still the law was violated. Finally, tried be- yond further endurance^ Government, crys- tallized in Khama 's figure, took control and launched a philippic. J. D. Hepburn, who acted as interpreter, gives the ultimatmn as he heard Khama pronounce it : " Take everything that you have. Take all that 2 6o Daybreak in the Dark Continent is yours and go. I am trying to lead my people to act according to that Word of God wHcli we have received from you white people, and you show them an ex- ample of wickedness such as we never knew. You, the people of the Word of God! Go! take your cattle and leave my town, and never come back again !"^ On the ground of old friendship one dealer pleaded for pity. Khama flashed back: *' Friendship ! You know better than any one how much I hate this drink. Don't talk to me about friendship. You are my worst enemy. I had a right to expect that you would uphold my laws, and you bring in the stuff for others to break them. You ask for pity and you show me no pity. No ; I have had enough of such pity. It is my duty to have pity on my people, over whom God has placed me, and I am going to show them pity to-day. That is my duty to God.'' And the drink went. To the British Ad- ministration he wrote : * * I dread the white man's drink more than the assegaies of the Matabele, which kill men's bodies and is quickly over; but drink puts devils into men and destroys their souls and their bodies forever. Its wounds never heal. I ^J. D. Hepburn, Twenty Years in Khama's Country. Daybreak 261 pray your Honor never to ask me to open even a little door to the drink. '^ The struffffle over the native beer mak- suppression of c5c> ISative Beer ing and drinking aroused deep antagonism. Drinking "At one time,'^ said Khama, ''I thought there was nothing but death in front of me. I told them they could kill me, but they could not conquer me. ' ' The years of state-building which have ^***^ Bniiding succeeded Khama 's accession to the chief- tainship have resulted in the conversion of an entire savage tribe into a peaceful, agricultural, Christian people. Houses have displaced rude huts. The home- thought has taken root. The Bechuanas are not all Christians. All Americans are not. The Bechuanas, however, are a dem- onstration of the effect of Christian mis- sions. Some still cling to their Pagan ideas, although Pagan practices were long since abolished by law. To pass from Bechuana- land before Khama to Bechuanaland with Khama is like passing from Dante's In- ferno to his Paradiso.^ The success in Madagascar- represents ^ It will be understood that Khama rules only a part of Bechuanaland. his people being the Bamang^'atos, a tribe of the Bechuanas. 'W. E. Cousins, Madagascar of To-day; J. J. Fletcher, Sign of the Cross in Madagascar; T. T. Matthews, Thirty Years in Madagascar. Madagrascar First Fifteen Years' Worlc 262 Daybreak In the Dark Continent the power of the gospel over a mixed race in which the Negro blood is present, but not dominant. The Malagasy are more Malay than Negro. Within four months after the first missionary party of six ar- rived in Madagascar five had died of fever. But David Jones, the one survivor, tena- ciously held on, won the friendship of King Eadama, and inaugurated a most marvel- ous work. The king admitted further mis- sionaries on condition that some should be artisans. The introduction of skilled me- chanics deeply impressed the Malagasy. After almost a century they still speak of Canham, the tanner; Chick, the smith; Eowlands, the weaver; and, above all, of Cameron, the master workman. The last named was a many-sided, inventive genius. He lived until 1875. When Queen Eanava- lona decided to banish the missionaries Cameron secured a five years ' delay of the sentence. The Queen did not care for any- more "book teaching," but desired some- thing which to her mind was more practi- cable. * ^ Can you teach my people to make soap?" she asked. Within a week's time Cameron returned with a specimen of his soap — a very effective missionary agency. The missionaries were expelled from Daybreak 263 Madagascar in 1835. A summary of the fifteen years' work shows that the Hova language had been reduced to written form, the Bible liad been translated, elementary school books had been prepared, several small Christian churches had been organ- ized, 10,000 or 15,000 pupils had passed through the one hundred missions schools and 30,000 people had learned to read. The quarter of a century from 1835 to w^en^^land 1862 is called in Madagascar "the time ^^as Dark" when the land was dark." This at least indicates an appreciation of the light which had been introduced by the missionaries and which had partially been eclipsed by their banishment. Persecution produced ''a noble army of martyrs.'' Christians went to their deaths "with faces shining like those of angels." Not less than 1,900 persons were persecuted in various ways in 1849. Of the eighteen martyrs, four were of noble birth, and were burned.^ The more Queen Ranavalona persecuted, p^rtitide the more the Christians multiplied. Hill- tops, remote forests, caves and tombs served as meeting-places. After twenty- five years of persecution there were four ^ other special seasons of persecution occurred in 1835-37, 1840, and 1857. 264 Daybreak in the Dark Continent times as many Christians as at the begin- ning. The missionaries found (1862) about 6,000 who not only had not given up their faith, but most of whom had made their confession during this reign of terror. Eight years after the renewal of the work the statistics of growth appear incredible. By 1867 there were 92 congregations, with 13,682 adherents; in 1870, 621 congrega- tions and 231,759 adherents. Such rapid growth precluded thorough training as to the meaning and obligations of Christian- ity. But the significant thing is that it meant a definite break with Paganism and a readiness for the gospel. In 1895, after twenty-five years of further ingathering, there were 2,004 congregations, 96,000 church members, 120,000 in Protestant mis- sion schools, and 375,000 adherents. With the final occupation of Madagascar by the French, in 1896, the Eoman Catholics be- came the persecutors of the Protestant Christians and the number of adherents decreased. But the result has been that by the elimination of those who would not suffer for Christ's sake the standard of evangelical Christians has been raised. In 1902 there were 184,000 Protestants and 135,000 in the mission schools. Daybreak 265 Lest any should think that the respon- siveness and steadfastness of the Malagasy to Christianity may be due to the slight proportion of Negro blood in their veins, the Baganda on Lake Victoria are cited/ They, too, are a mixed race, but remain pre- dominantly Negro. In 1875 Henry M. Stanley sent from Uganda his famous ' ' Challenge to Christendom. ' ' King Mtesa had asked for missionaries for his people. Would Christians respond to this cry from the heart of Africa 1 The people in whose behalf this chal- lenge was sent were described by Stanley himself as ''crafty, fraudful, deceiving, ly- ing, thievish knaves, taken as a whole." Women and children as well as slaves were property. Polygamy was common. The people were victimized by belief in witch- craft. Violence was rife. Punishment and death were often accomplished by fearful torture. Human life was held cheap. A subject might be shot simply to test a gun. Cannibalism was probably occasionally practiced. Human sacrifice was often a wholesale slaughter. Mtesa 's father had been accustomed to sacrifice great numbers ^ Chronicles of Uganda; The Wonderful Story of Uganda; Mackay of Uganda; Pilkington of Uganda; History of the Church Missionary Society. Usanda Character of People 266 Daybreak In the Dark Continent of his subjects whenever religious caprice or personal vengeance dictated. Mtesa himself offered two thousand captives in sacrifice to his father's spirit, and later commanded a similar butchery in order to propitiate the evil spirit that was causing his own illness. ramma^P^''''' lu 1896, Icss thau twcuty years after the advent of the first missionaries, Pilking- ton could write his remarkable and worth- ily oft-quoted summary: '^A hundred thou- sand souls brought into close contact with the gospel — half of them able to read for themselves; two hundred buildings raised by native Christians in which to worship God and read his Word ; two hundred na- tive evangelists and teachers entirely sup- ported by the native church ; ten thousand copies of the New Testament in circulation ; six thousand souls eagerly seeking daily instruction; statistics of baptism, of con- firmation, of adherents, of teachers, more than doubling yearly for the last six or seven years, ever since the return of the Christians from exile; the power of God shown by changed lives — and all this in the center of the thickest spiritual darkness in the world ! Does it not make the heart reel with mingled emotions of joy and fear, of Daybreak 267 hope and apprehension! Well may Chris- tian hearts rejoice with trembling as they hear of it ! Well may they labor in prayers for such possibilities, either of magnificent success or heart-breaking disaster!" Moreover, the Uganda church itself had 5fa«"t* its roll of native membership written in ^^^^*y^» martyrs' blood. Its early histor^,^ is a re- cital of the most sublime faith amid terrible persecution and torture. They had "trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonments — they were sawn asunder; were tempted; were slain; being destitute, afflicted, tor- mented (of whom the world was not wor- thy) ; they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having had witness borne to them through their faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.'' In 1904 the Church of England had in u&anda church Uganda 43,868 baptized Christians (8,321 having been baptized during the year), 32 ordained native clergymen, 2,468 native evangelists and teachers, a cathedral, built at native expense, seating 4,000 persons, and 1,070 other places of worship, with a "A Nation in a Day" 268 Daybreak in the Dark Continent seating capacity of 127,000, and with an average Sabbath attendance of 50,000. Nearly 100,000 people could read and write and 250,000 were under religious instruc- tion. All of this native work is financed by native Christians, and is practically self- governing. The bishop is the only European member of the chief council. Native evan- gelists and missionaries are being sent throughout the kingdom of Uganda and to surrounding tribes. '^A nation in a day!'^ Into the somber, blood-stained tapestry of Pagan life the new thread of a mighty Love has been woven. This wonderful thread can be traced, now dividing and intertwining, now knotted and tangled and shredded, now, ex- cept to a keen eye, lost sight of, though only to reappear in clearer design, marred here by ruthless hands, stained there with martyr blood, but finally dominating the whole, until the fabric grows firm and en- during, and the pattern distinct and chaste and beautiful. As these thirty years pass in review one is conscious that the Word of the Lord comes to His own to-day as clearly as in His message to Zerubbabel: *^Who art thou, great mountain! Before Zerubbabel thou slialt become a plain. '^ Daybreak 269 And as the heart bows in deep thankful- ness for the fulfillment of this promise in dark Africa there speaks through the si- lence the voice of Him who sitteth on the throne: '^Not by an army, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.'' In 1875 the Ngoni were a plundering, N»«»»"a»»d bloodthirsty tribe. They raided for sus- tenance and slaughtered for pleasure. They terrorized other natives of the region to the west of Lake Nyasa. The remnants of these almost annihilated tribes fled for pro- tection to the Livingstonia Mission. This led Dr. Laws to propose to settle a mission- ary among the wild Ngoni themselves. Dr. Elmslie's story of his own twenty years' life among them reveals the awful deprav- ity and brutality of this people.^ J. W. Jack vividly portrays the transfor- Transforma- mation after a few years of missionary work. ' ^ The rock of unbelief and inditf er- ence, which at first remained non-riven, in spite of repeated strokes, has at last been shattered. Both chiefs and people have be- come friendly to the mission. The national war-spirit is broken. The brutal raids upon the Tonga and other defenseless tribes ^W, A. Elmslie, M.D., Among the Wild Ngoni. 270 Daybreak In the Dark Continent have entirely ceased. Spears and clubs are being exchanged for the Word of God. The lives of the missionaries are no longer in danger. The horrible practices of the native doctors are giv- ing place to the arts of true medicine. Savage creatures who have lived all their days for plunder and profligacy, whose 'hearts have never known principle, or vir- tue, or decency, are being born again by a divine power, are giving up their degraded habits, and are sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in their right minds. All this, too, in little more than a decade of time! And without any secular force to help, with no aid whatever from army or civil admin- istration, and with the persistent savagery of the land as an opponent ! It is surely a triumph as splendid as any ever achieved by the force of arms. It is a change as stu- pendous as when the peaceful staff of Moses broke in shivers all weapons of war and the ten thousand spears of Pharaoh. It is a marvel of power, greater than any belonging to this lower world. ' ' ^ congro Basin The typical African of the Congo basin also has shown a remarkable readiness to ^James W. Jack, Daybreak in Living stonia. Daybreak 27 1 receive the gospel and a staunch loyalty to the faith. The '* Pentecost on the Congo" is no more a fact of history than is the un- swerving faithfulness and missionary zeal of these converted Pagans — some of them formerly cannibals. ^^When an African will give up his superfluous wives, will reject an easy opportunity to steal, will confess a sin which entails sure and disagreeable punish- ment, will relinquish vengeance against a foe," there can be no doubt as to the mighty transformation in his life. And such Africans are adding to the Congo chhrch daily those who are being saved. ^ ' The native Christians from the first have adopted as a cardinal principle of church membership that every member should per- sonally engage in some form of Christian service."^ This explains their abounding liberality, their self-support, their high standard of morals, their spirit, and their record of conquest. The Eev. Henry Rich- ards, of the American Baptist mission on the Congo, answers the query as to ^^what kind of Christians the Africans make, if they really give up their Paganism and be- come civilized," by this statement: ^'We have fifteen hundred church members at ^ John Bell, A Miracle of African Missions. Remarkable Respon 272 Daybreak In the Dark Continent our station, and, as far as I can judge, we have as spiritual and devoted a church as you will find anywhere. As a whole, they compare favorably with any other body of Christians." Verner points out that the Congoese are Biveness evcu morc responsive to Christianity than are the Baganda. Among the latter the growth of the church has been a hundred- fold in ten years ' time. In the Kassai val- ley of the Congo basin ''the growth has been a hundredfold in ^ve years ' time, and this, too, when the political power, con- trary to the case of Uganda, has not been vested in the government to which the mis- sionaries belong. When Lapsley landed at Luebo (1891) there was not a Protestant native Christian in a thousand miles. Now there are nearly two thousand. There have never been more than ten missionaries ac- tively at work there at one time, but they have been so besieged with calls from far and near that they have been physically unable to respond. The Baluba slaves, who once thought that Luebo [before mission- aries came] was synonymous with all the horrors of torture and death, now hail it as the haven of freedom and peace. Where the murderous shouts of cannibals once Daybreak 273 rang through the forest, the sound of the church bell proclaims the call to wor- ship and the songs of Zion resound across the clearing."^ It is in the interior, beyond the vicious t^t^lior eLut influence of corrupt civilization and demor- ^*^^ alizing trade, that the African is most eas- ily won to Christianity, and once thor- oughly won endures hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. In less than a gen- eration large districts such as those de- scribed have discarded barbarous prac- tices, just as converts in Christian lands leave off bad habits, and have adopted the manners and some of the arts of civiliza- tion. Thirty years ago there was not a convert in all Central Africa, to-day there are over 60,000;- thirty years ago no churches and schools, to-day over 2,000 places of worship and instruction; thirty years ago no pupils, to-day about 300,000 receive religious and secular training; thirty years ago no native evangelization, to-day above 100 ordained and over 3,000 native helpers, who are carrying the gospel ^S. p. Verner, Pioneering in Central Africa. -These statistics are estimated from the latest re- ports of the Central African Missions of various so- cieties. They are only approximate, but it is be- lieved that they fairly represent the situation. 274 Daybreak In the Dark Continent Christianity's Task FcTV Mission- aries in tbe Sudan to their Pagan brethren. The forces are now organized in several strong centers. Christianity has gathered mo- mentum. Who will attempt to prophesy the cumulative results that may reason- ably be expected within the next genera- tion? Notwithstanding the successes of the gospel, the task yet to be compassed before the Dark Continent shall be evangelized is one of incalculable magnitude. About 90,000,000 Pagans in the southern half and 50,000,000 Moslems in the northern half, like perennially provisioned armies in mighty fortresses, occupy the great mass of the continent, while but 9,000,- 000 ^'Christians''^ stretch like a skirmish line along the coasts. Only here and there have advances been made upon the interior. The missions along the Congo, the Niger, the Nile, the Zambezi, in the lake district, and South Africa represent practically the sum total of interior work. The densely populated territory of the central Sudan, stretching eastward from the junction of the Benue with the Niger to ^"Christians," as here used, include all white resi- dents in Africa, believers and non-believers, as well as black communicants. Blue Book of Missions, 1905. Daybreak 275 the Upper Nile, is without a missionary ex- cept at its extremities/ Of its states, Bornu is larger than New York, Gando than Wis- consin, Kordofan than Missouri; Bagirmi is a little smaller than Ohio, Kanem than Kentucky, Wadai than Montana, Adamawa than Nevada, Darfur than the combined areas of Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Present Force of Christian It is as if the United States, with her 82,- 000,000 of people, had one missionary in Maine and one in Texas, and not a ray of gospel light between. If all of Africa and its population were divided equally among the present force workers in of missionaries each would have a parish of 3,700 square miles — nearly half as large as Massachusetts — and 48,000 people. A similar division for native workers would give each 700 square miles and 9,000 peo- ple. Well might it be asked. ^'What are these among so many ? ' ^ ^ Three societies have recently opened missions in these two sections. 276 Daybreak in the Dark Continent Irony of Much Missionary Entliusiasm Tlie Contest for Pa^an Africa It was before a great farewell meeting to Sudan missionaries that Graham Wilmot Brooke strikingly set forth the pathetic irony of much of our ^'missionary enthusi- asm : ' ' ' ' After many missionary meetings in various parts of the country, at which the appalling fact has been fully set forth that in the Sudan there are as many peo- ples as in the whole continent of North America, and all dying without the gospel ; yet to such a field and to such a battle all that can be mustered are four young men and two young ladies ! In temporal things this would be called a miserable fiasco ; but as it is a missionary movement, and as obe- dience to Christ is the only motive which is urged, we are told to regard this as a ' splendid party. ' ' '^ There is offered to the young men and women of the twentieth century no greater opportunity for noble service and superb heroism than the contest which is now on for Pagan Africa. Islam and Christianity are each striving for the prize. Islam, with its millions massed in the heart of the continent, has enormous odds in numbers and situation. 'Quoted by Engene Stock. Missionary Society. History of the Church Daybreak 277 Moreover, Moslems are to-day stirred with, a genuine missionary zeal, and are advanc- ing to the conversion of Pagan Africa to the false prophet. Whether Africa is to be Pagan or Christian is not half the ques- tion. Shall Africa be Mohammedan or Christian! That is the question. It will be answered speedily one way or the other. It is most urgently necessary that Chris- tianity outstrip Mohammedanism. As has been pointed out, when once converted to Islam, the difficulty of winning the African to Christianity is immeasura- bly increased. ^'Who will come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty!" Each must answer for himself, and quickly. The time is waxing late. Next to the imperative necessity of win- ning Pagan Africa to Christ before Islam has spread over the entire continent is the urgent importance of evangelizing Moslem Africa itself. The Moslem has always proved peculiarly obstinate to Christian evangelism. Islam has enough truth to palliate an easy-going conscience and enough error to satisfy a corrupt heart. But the factor that most powerfully oper- ates against the acceptance of Christianity E^vangrellza- tlon of Mo- bammedan. Africa Tine Outlook 278 Daybreak in the Dark Continent by Moslems is the fanatical intolerance of all ' ' the faithful ' ' against any one of their number who repudiates Islam for another faith. When the European control of Africa becomes so complete that religious liberty is secured Christianity will certainly make large conquest of Islam. The day of begin- ning that conquest is, however, not so far away as this condition would indicate. The results of the work of the American Mis- sion in Egypt, of Robert College at Constan- tinople, and of Beirut College in Syria have abundantly proved that wise and persistent evangelistic and educational methods, even in unfavorable government environment, will ultimately win among Moslems. The outlook for the religion of light in the Dark Continent is not to be measured by past or present successes. Splendid as these successes are, they point rather to fu- ture promise than to present achievements. For, while the outlook is as dark as sin and degradation can make it, it is as bright as the promises of God. '' I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.'^ '^He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. " * * The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. ' ' OUT OF DARKNESS INTO LIGHT, WEST AFRICA A GROUP OF UNEVANGELIZED NATIVES A THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY CLASS Africa's Latent Forces Pleas from Hausaland Daybreak 279 Africa has other Africaners, Crowthers, Moolus, Pauls of the Congo, Khamas, other Madagascars, Ugandas, Ngonilands, and Congo districts waiting for the gospel mes- sage 'Ho roll the darkness off that over- shades the soul and cleanse the deeper dyes of sin. ' ' Representatives of the great Hausa na- tion of the Sudan themselves applied for the stations established among them. Here is a right of way into the Mohammedan Sudan, with its teeming millions of the best races in Africa. The conversion of the Hausas might mean more for the redemp- tion of the continent than the conversion of the Baganda. The Hausa language, which is said to be worthy of place among ''the world's imperial tongues," is the commer- cial language of the Sudan. It may yet become to the various Sudanese nations what Greek was to the Mediterranean peo- ples in the first missionary campaign. Verner vividly pictures the opportunity Urgent caiis *^ ^ ^^ *' from Congro in the Kassai valley south of the Congo : Tribes "There is no mission field more full of promise, more urgent in its needs, than that in the great Kassai valley and the ad- joining Lunda plateau. The Bakete, num- bering thirty thousand, are all accessible 28o Daybreak in the Dark Continent and at the doors of the great church at Luebo. The Bakuba, numbering, perhaps, four hundred thousand, lying north of Luebo, in the great Sankuru-Kassai penin- sula, have thrown open their doors, and already one station has been planted among them. The Bashilange, numbering over one million, lying to the south of Ndombe, are ready to hear the Word, and have sent me earnest pleas all the way to America to come back to them. The Ba- luba, numbering three millions, to the south and east of Luebo, have already made the most numerous converts, and they would give to our churches a membership exceed- ing the entire Presbyterian membership in America in a generation, if only the work- ers were there. ' ' ^ ^^E^ert^N* w ^^ ovcry quartcr of the Pagan interior Missionary whcrc a missiou has been established long enough for its purposes and work to be ap- preciated, chiefs and deputations from tribes ask for far more missionaries than can be supplied. Perhaps it would not be too much to say that every new missionary could go to a place which has applied for teachers if the imperative necessities of the ^S. p. Verner, Pioneering in Central Africa. Daybreak 281 work did not require reinforcements of the established stations. In 1904 King Geddy, of Southern Libe- tnltlV^^^ ria, called on Bishop Hartzell, who at the time was inspecting Liberian missions. Age had told upon the visitor. He walked with halting, shuffling steps, leaning heav- ily upon his long stick. His flowing white beard and open countenance completed a picture that involuntarily suggested ^'Ja- cob leaning on the top of his staff.'' He had walked twelve miles in this painful manner in order to make a personal plea for a missionary to be stationed among his people. He is typical. An age-old people has staggered along for centuries in the darkness of Paganism, occasionally catch- ing little gleams of light from the Sun of Eighteousness, and knowing enough of the misery of darkness to beg now and then for a candle. 'I know of a land that is sunk in shame. Of hearts that faint and tire — And I know of a Name, a Name, a Name, Can set that land on fire. Its sound is a brand, its letters flame — I know of a Name, a Name, a Name, Will set that land on fire." To those who look upon Christianity as only one of the religions of the earth. The Convep- 8ioii of Africa as Vieiived. by the Xon- Christian The Conver- sion of Africa as Vie^ved by the Christian 282 Daybreak In the Dark Continent adapted mainly to the Caucasian race, it appears not only incongruous but futile to attempt the conversion of Pagan and Mo- hammedan Africa. To those who look upon religion as a mere inconvenient fea- ture of human nature one religion seems as good as another — the one easiest for any one given people being the logical one, ac- cording to this tit-all philosophy. But the Christian is unappalled by the number of Pagans or Mohammedans. As sure as God is God ; as sure as Christianity is the religion which God cared so much to teach men as to come to earth in the person of his Son ; as sure as all power in heaven and on earth is given to Jesus Christ; as sure as he commissioned his disciples, therefore, to go into all the world and preach his gospel to every creature; as sure as he promises to be with such all the days even unto the end of the age — so sure is Christianity of ultimate triumph in Af- rica. God waited a long time for the world to get ready for Jesus Christ, but in the fullness of time he came. God waited a long time for the preparation of India, China, Japan, Korea, and the islands of the sea, and for the readiness of Christians to carry them the gospel. So has he waited Daybreak 283 for the message of salvation to be preached to the millions of Pagan and Mohammedan Africa. It is within the reasonable capa- bility of the church of this generation fully to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to all who have been dwelling in the darkness of Africa. "Out of the shadows of night The world rolls into light. It is daybreak everywhere." 284 Daybreak in the Dark Continent QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VIII. Aim: To Study Africa's Call in View of the Suc- cess Achieved. I. . .1 What real satisfaction do you think Africaner found in his former bloody life? 2 Try to picture his feelings after his eyes were opened. 3 Would such a man ever have been influenced by mere just dealings on the part of the settlers? 4 What is necessary for the redemption of such characters? II ... 5 What does the career of Crowther teach as to the possibilities of the African? III. . .6 How many Americans can you name whose lives have wrought more change in the com- munity round them than did Khama's life? 7 What do you think of his attitude on the drink question? 8 Had he any right to infringe on the personal lib- erty of his subjects? 9 Sum up the value of his life both as to past influ- ence and future example, IV... 10 How much worth while does it seem to you to transform an average African into a Moolu? V...11 What lessons in regard to missions do we learn from the main facts of the work in Mada- gascar? VI... 12 Mention occasions that might lead to vio- lent death in Uganda in 1875. 13 Carefully compare the figures of Uganda missions in 1896 and for 1904, and note what they teach. 14 Can you think of any career more desirable than that of having shared in such a transforma- tion? Daybreak 285 VII. . .15 What are the lessons of the work of Ngonl- land? VIII... 16 In view of the way in which the Congo people have responded to Christianity, what do you think of the sin of withholding it from them? 17 How many Christians have you met in this coun- try who seem to you the equal of Paul of the Congo? 18 What has been accomplished in thirty years in Central Africa? 19 Could more have been expected in view of the difficulties and scantiness of the efforts put forth? 20* What is the need of Africa for Christian workers as compared with the United States? IX... 21 In view of what has happened in Uganda and the Congo basin, what may we expect of Hausaland? X. . .22 What facts most appeal to you in connection with the need of Kassai Valley? 23 Do you know of any field in America or elsewhere of equal need and promise? XI... 24 Put yourself in King Geddy's place and think how you should explain the failure of Christian America to send you a missionary. XII... 25 What things in African paganism would arouse the pity even of non-Christians? 26 What things are there besides these that should appeal to us who are Christians? 27 What obligations as to Africa does the possession of Christianity lay upon us? 28 After all you have learned, what is there that you can and will do to hasten Daybreak in the Dark Continent? 286 Daybreak in the Dark Continent References for Papers or Talks. I.. .Establishing a Mission Station. Bentley — Pioneering on the Congo, Ch. V. Jack — Daybreak in Livingstonia, Ch. IV. Johnston — Missionary Landscape in the Dark Con- tinent, Ch. VII. Moffat — The Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat, Ch. XXXII. Noble— The Redemption of Africa, Ch. XVIII. II. . .Special Providences in the Lives of Missionaries. Blaikie — Personal Life of David Livingstone, pp. 83, 84, 175, 176, 184-199, 212, 289, 303, 343-345. Hotchkiss — Sketches from the Dark Continent, Chs. I, III. Pierson — The New Acts of the Apostles, Pt. V; Ch. III. III. . .The Blood of the Martyrs. Fletcher — The Sign of the Cross in Madagascar, Chs. XVII, XXII. Harrison — Mackay of Uganda, pp. 273-284. Pierson — The New Acts of the Apostles, Pt. IV; Ch. II. Taylor — The Price of Africa, pp. 31-44. Townsend — Madagascar: Its Memories and Mar- tyrs, Ch. IV. APPENDIX A CHRONOLOGY OF AFRICAN HISTORY This chronological table, compiled from The His- torian's History, History of Ready Reference, and other standard works, includes only the most impor- tant dates. In Egyptian history, aside from those dates which could not be omitted, preference is given, to those which are connected with larger Africa or with Bible history. The prehistoric period in Africa is a fascinating puzzle to historians, because the first page of Egyptian history reveals a high state of civilization, indicating an indefinitely long period of advancement before that time. The ancient ruins of Rhodesia, southeast Africa, also are believed to date as early as 2,000 years before Christ. The earlier dates of Egyptian history can be given with only an approximate degree of cer- tainty. 4400 B. c, to 4133 b. c. 1st Dynasty founded, by Menes, first authentic king, to whom tradi- tion also ascribes founding of Memphis. 3900 B. c. to 3766 b. c. Ilird Dynasty. Building of Step Pyramid of Sakkarah. "It is certainly the oldest of all the large buildings which have successfully resisted the action of wind and weather and destruction by the hand of man." The Great Sphinx of Ghizeh also assigned to this period. 287 Appendix A 3766 B. c. to 3566 b. c. IVth Dynasty. Sometimes called the "Pyramid Dynasty." Cbeops builds the Great Pyramid. Brilliant age of art and literature. Statue of Khaf-Ra, the earliest statue to be preserved to the pres- ent day. 2700 B. c. to 2466 b. c. Xlth Dynasty. Under the patronage of Sankh-Ka-Ra, last king of this dynasty, occurs the first voyage to Punt (probably Somaliland, East Africa), and to Ophir (probably Rhodesia, southeast Africa) . 2466 B. c, to 2250 b. c. Xllth Dynasty. Usertsen III conquers Ethiopia, and is afterwards re- vered as its founder. Amenemhat III builds famous Labyrinth palace and con- structs Lake Moeris as storage reservoir for Nile overflow 4,000 years before the nineteenth century engineering feat on the Upper Nile for the same purpose. Great age of art and literature. Immense activ- ity in building. 2250 B. c. to 1635 b. c. Xlllth to XVIIth Dynasties. Before close of Xlllth the Hyksos, Shep- herd Kings, invaders from the East, gain rapidly in power, and in the XlVth they establish their rule. Civilization brought to a standstill. There is possible warrant for the theory that the Hyksos invaders penetrated as far as West Africa, and that they to-day are represented in the superior mixed race of the Fulahs. 1730 B. c. (?) Hebrews come into Egypt. 1635 B. c. to 1365 b. c. XVIIIth Dynasty. Hyksos driven out. Egypt becomes a conquering nation. Activity in building revived ; great temples of Karnak and Luxor, with their Appendix A 289 avenues of sphinxes; famous Colossi of the Nile; palace and tomb at Tel-el-Amarna, in the ruins of which important discoveries of inscribed tablets relating to Palestine and other countries were made during lat- ter part of the nineteenth century ; obelisks erected to adorn Temple of the Sun at Hel- iopolis. One of these obelisks is now in. London; another is in Central Park, New York. During this dynasty occur tempo- rary overthrow of national religion and substitution of worship of the sun's disc. 1365 B. c. to 1235 b. c. XlXth Dynasty. Rameses II, the Pharaoh of the Oppression, and Menep- tah, the Pharaoh of the Exodus, belong to this period. 1235 B. c. to 1075 B. c. XXth Dynasty. Decline of Egypt begins. Phoenician colonization of Tuniscan Coast probably begins. 1075 B. c. to 945 B. c. XXIst Dynasty. Solomon makes alliance with Egypt and marries a daughter of an Egyptian king (I Kings iii: 1.) Solomon secures gold from Ophir, probably identical with the gold fields of Rhodesia, southeast Africa. (I Kings ix: 28; x: 11.) 945 B. c. to 750 B, c. XXIInd Dynasty. Shishak be- comes protector of Jeroboam, who has fled from Solomon's violence. (I Kings xi: 40.) He invades Judah, captures and sacks Jeru- salem. (I Kings xiv: 25, 26; II Chron. xii.) Ethopian domination begins through the capture of Thebes. Carthage founded. 728 B. c. to 655 b. c. XXVth Dynasty. Ethiopian rule of Egypt complete. Hoshea, King of Israel, makes alliance with Shabak (So of the Bible). Hoshea withholds tribute 290 Appendix A from Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, and the captivity of Israel is precipitated (721 B. c.) (II Kings xvii: 4-6.) Tirhakah, Ethiopian king of Egypt, makes alliance with Hezekiah against Sennacherib, King of Assyria. (II Kings xix: 9.) End of Ethiopian rule. Assyrian domination be- gins. 655 B. c. to 527 b. c. XXVIth Dynasty. Under Psamthek I, 200,000 Egyptian and Libyan soldiers desert and go into Ethiopia. Im- possible to estimate effect of this migration upon race characteristics of later Ethio- pians. Commercial treaties with the Greeks. Nechoh II endeavors to reconstruct canal between the Nile and the Red Sea. Under his patronage Phoenician sailors circum- navigate Africa. He defeats Josiah, King of Judah, at battle of Megiddo. (608 b. c.) (II Kings xxiii: 29; II Chron. xxxv: 21-24.) Uah-ab-Ra (Pharaoh-Hophra of the Bible) makes an alliance with Zedekiah, King of Judah, against Nebuchadrezzar, King of Babylon. Zedekiah revolts against Babylon and the captivity of Judah follows (586 B. c.) (II Chron. xxxvi: 20.) Assyrian domination ends. 525 B. c. to 405 B. c. XXVIIth Dynasty. Egypt be- comes a Persian province under Cambyses, King of Persia. 340 B. c. to 332 B. c. XXXIst Dynasty. Alexander the Great closes this period by finally over- throwing the Persian power in Egypt. Greek dominion begins. Alexandria is founded. 323 B. c. to 30 B. c. XXXIIIrd Dynasty. Ptolemy Soter, one of Alexander's generals, receives Appendix A 291 Egypt in the division of Macedonian Em- pire, and becomes founder of dynasty. Greek genius and culture contribute to- ward making earlier part of period the highest of Egj'ptian prosperity. Alexandria becomes greatest city in world. Alexan- drian museum and libraries founded. Septuagint version of the Hebrew Scrip- tures made. Manetho's history of ancient Egyptian kings written. Euclid becomes head of school of mathematics at Alexan- dria. Ptolemaic system of astronomy pro- pounded. Dominion of Ptolemies extended southward. Parts of Abyssinia held for a time. Obelisks still standing in Aksum believed to have been set up about 300 b. c. Part of Alexandria burned by Julius Caesar, and the museum library of 400,000 volumes consumed. Cleopatra, last of Ptolemies, infatuates Mark Antony. After Battle of Actium Roman domination be- gins. Roman colonization extends over North African coast lands. 30 A. D. Christianity probably introduced into Africa by visitors at Pentecost. 150 A. D. to 400 A. D. Founding of the Christian College, or Missionary Training School, at Alexandria; Pantsnus, Origen, Clement, successive principals. Christianity flour- ishes in North Africa. At various times Roman persecutions of African Christians. Period of African leadership in early Christian church: Tertullian, Cyprian, Ath- anasius, Arnobius, Augustine and others. Introduction of Christianity into Abyssinia and other sections to the south of Egypt aJid the Mediterranean coast lands. 292 Appendix A * 522 A. D. Extension of Abyssinian rule over section of southern Arabia for purpose of protect- ing Christians against Jewish persecutions. Continues for forty years. 640 A. D. to 1000 A. D. Moslem conquest of Egypt and North Africa. Political, religious, and. racial domination begins. Reputed destruc- tion by Mohammedans of Alexandrian lib- rary of 700,000 volumes. Arabs in East Africa. 1100 A. D. to 1300 A. D. Era of European awakening to missionary endeavor. Organization of numerous philanthropic orders for the res- cue of Christian captives in Moslem lands. Africa shares in the results. Order of Franciscan monks originated by St. Fran- cis of Assisi, who himself preaches to the Saracens in Egypt. Two hundred each of Franciscans and Dominicans lose their lives in missionary work in North Africa. Louis IX, the Crusader of France, leads the Seventh Crusade as a militant missionary movement against the Saracens in Egypt, and meets defeat at Cairo. He also leads a later crusade for the same purpose against Tunis, and again meets defeat, and dies. Raymond Lull devotes his life to mission- ary work among Moslems of North Africa. 1394 A. D. to 1487 A. D. West Coast discoveries under patronage of Prince Henry the Navigator. Discovery of Congo River (1484). Discov- ery of Cape of Good Hope (1487). 1490 to 1540. Modern rediscovery of Abyssinia by Portuguese. Embassies exchanged. Por- tuguese give assistance to Abyssinia against Mohammedans, 1497-8. Vasco da Gama rounds Cape, touches at East Coast points and proceeds to India. Portu- Appendix A 293 guese settlements on East and West coasts begin soon after this time. 1517. Turkish occupation of Egypt. 1600 to 1700. Individual explorations of Senegambia region by English and French. Founding of trading posts in same section and along Guinea Coast. Dutch occupation of Cape of Good Hope (1652). 1737. Beginning of missionary work in South Africa. George Schmidt. 1768. Rediscovery of headwaters of Blue Nile by- James Bruce. 1788 to 1830. Organization of the African. Associa- tion. Beginning of scientific explorations, Guinea Coast, Niger River, and Lake Tchad regions. Beginning of missionary work in West Africa, Sierra Leone (1796). French conquest of Egypt by Napoleon. Battle of Pyramids. Expulsion of French by Eng- lish. Cape Colony ceded to the English by the king of the Netherlands (1814). Com- modore Decatur, of United States navy, brings Algerian pirates to terms (1815). Piracy ceases. European legislation against foreign slave trade. Beginning of mission- ary work in North Africa (1825). 1830 to 1885. Period of exploration and discovery in Central Africa. All foreigners, including Protestant missionaries, exi>elled from Abyssinia (1838). Beginning of mission- ary work in East Africa (1844). Discov- eries of Kilma-Njaro and Kenia by Krapf and Rebmann. Reports of great inland sea, followed by discoveries of lakes Tan- ganyika and Victoria Nyanza, and of the Nile flowing out of the latter, by Burton, Speke, and Grant. First railroad begun in. 294 Appendix A Africa from Cape Town. Construction of the Suez Canal. Discovery of diamonds in Cape Colony (1867). Livingstone's explora- tions and discoveries (1841-1873). Stan- ley's expedition to find Livingstone (1871). Livingstone's death (1873). Stanley's trans- continental expedition and descent of Congo (1875-77). Founding of South Afri- can Republic (1880), Paul Kriiger, Presi- dent. British occupation of Egypt (1882). Conquest of the Sudan. General Gordon's government. Revolt of tne Mahdi. Fall of Khartum and death of Gordon (1885). Dis- covery of gold in Transvaal (1885). 1884 to 1897. Period of partition of Africa among European Powers. Italy makes war against Abyssinia and is defeated. 1898. Re-establishment of British control in Egyptian. Sudan by Kitchener, 1899 to 1902. Boer War. Establishment of British control throughout South Africa. APPENDIX B BIBLIOGRAPHY Note: Most of the following named "books can be found in the public and private libraries of any com- munity and should be drawn upon as much as possi- ble for reference work. The special missionary librar ries, such as the Missionary Campaign Libraries and the Conquest Missionary Library, contain some of the books herein mentioned. There is also available for classes a special reference library on Africa, which is for sale by the publisher whose name appears in the imprint on this text book or by your denominational missionary board. General. Beach, Harlan P. Geography and Atlas of Protestant Missions. (2 Vols.) Student Vol- unteer Movement, New York. Beazley, C. R. Prince Henry the Navigator. (Heroes of the Nations Series.) G. P. Put- nam's Sons, New York. Brown, R. Africa and Its Explorers. (4 Vols.) Cas- sell Co., Ltd., London. Crafts, W. P., and others. Protection of Native Races against Intoxicants and Opium. Revell, New York. Dennis, J. S. Christian Missions and Social Progress. (2 Vols.) Revell, New York. Heawood, E. Elementary Geography of Africa. Mac- millan, London. 295 296 Appendix B Johnston, H. H. Colonization of Africa. The Mao- millan Co., New York. Keane, a. H. Stanford's Compendium of Geo^aphy. (North and South Africa, 2 Vols.) Stanford, London. Merriam, E. E. History of American Baptist Mis- sions. American Baptist Publica- tion Society, Philadelphia. Noble, F. P. Redemption of Africa. (2 Vols.) Revell, New York. Parsons, Ellen C. Christus Liberator. The Mac- millan Co., New York. Ratzel, F. History of Mankind, Book IV. The Mac- millan Co., New York. Reid, J. M., and Gracey, J. T. Missions and the Mis- sionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Eaton & Mains, New York. Stewart, J. Dawn in the Dark Continent. Revell, New York. Taylor, S. E. Price of Africa. Young People's Mis- sionary Movement, New York, Thompson, A. C. History of Moravian Missions. Scribners, New York. Waeneck, G. Outline of the History of Protestant Missions. (Seventh Edition.) Rev- ell, New York. Ecumenical Missionary Conference Report. (2 Vols.) American Tract Society, New York. Central Africa. Abnot, F. S. Garenganze. Revell, New York. Colllard, F. On the Threshold of Central Africa. American Tract Society, New York. Drummond, H. Tropical Africa. Scribners, New York. Johnson, H. H. British Central Africa. Methuen & Co., London. Appendix B 297 Stanley, H. M. How I Found Livingstone. Scrib- ners, New York. St-anley, H. M. In Darkest Africa. (2 Vols.) Scrib- ners, New York. Stanley, H. M. My Dark Companions and Their Strange Stories. Scribners, New York. Stanley, H. M. Through the Dark Continent, (2 Vols.) ScHWEiNFURTH, G., and others. Emin Pasha in Cen- tral Africa. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York. Veenek, S. p. Pioneering in Central Africa. Presby- terian Committee of Publication, Richmond, Va. East Africa. Ashe, R. P. Chronicles of Uganda. Hodder & Stough- ton, London. Battersby, W. H. Pilkington of Uganda. Revell, New York. Dawson, E. C. James Hannington, First Bishop of Equatorial Africa. Seeley & Co., London. Elmslie, W. a. Among the Wild Ngoni. Revell, New York. [Harrison, Mrs. J. W.] Mackay of Uganda. Arm- strong, New York. Jack, J. W. Daybreak in Livingstonia. Revell Co., New York. Mullins, J. D. "Wonderful Story of Uganda. Church Missionary Society, London, Matthews, T. T. Thirty Years in Madagascar. Arm- strong, New York. Vivian, H. Abyssinia, Pearson, London, North Africa. Atterbuby, a. p. Islam in Africa. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. 298 Appendix B Rutherford, J., and Glenny, E. H. The Gospel in North Africa. Percy Lund, Hum- phries & Co., London. Smith, G. B. General Gordon. S. W. Partridge & Co., London. Bossier, G. Roman Africa. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. Watson, A. P. The American Mission in Egj-pt. United Presbyterian Board of Pub- lication, Pittsburgh. ZwEMEB, S. M. Raymond Lull: First Missionary to the Moslems. Funk & Wagnalls Co., New York. South Africa. Blaikie, W. G. Personal Life of David Livingstone. Revell, New York. Bruce, Mrs. W. K. Story of an African Chief. Kegan, Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co., London. Bryce, J. Impressions of South Africa. Century Co., New York. Carnegie, D. Among the Matabeles. Religious Tract Society, London. Deane, D. J, Robert Moffat. Revell, New York. Hepburn, A. D. Twenty Years in Khama's Country. Hodder & Stoughton, London. Livingstone, D. Travels and Researches in South Africa. Harper & Bros., New York. Livingstone, D. The Zambesi and Its Tributaries. Harper & Bros., New York. Livingstone, D. Last Journals. Harper & Bros., New York. Mackenzie, "W. D. John Mackenzie, South African Missionary and Statesman, Arm- strong, New York. Moffat, J. S. Robert and Mary Moffat. Revell, New; York. Appendix B 299 Tyler, J. Forty Years among the Zulus. Cong. S. S. and Publishing Society, Boston. WoRSFOLD, W. R. The Story of South Africa. Hor- ace Marshall & Son, London. West Africa. Bell, John. A Miracle of Modern Missions. Revell, New York. Bentley, W. H. Pioneering on the Congo. (2 Vols.) Revell, New York. Chatelain, H. Folk-tales of Angola. Houghton, Mif- flin Co., Boston. DiMMiTT, D. Story of Madeira. Eaton & Mains, New York. [Lapsley, J. W.] Life and Letters of Samuel Norvell. Whittet & Shepperson, Richmond, Va. McAllister, Agnes. A Lone Woman in Africa. Eaton & Mains, New York. Milum, J. Thomas Burch Freeman. Revell Co., New York. Nassau, R. H. Fetichism in West Africa. Scribners, New York. Page, J. Samuel Crowther. Revell, New York. Parsons, Ellen C. A Life for Africa. Revell, New York. Robinson, C. H. Hausa-Land. Sampson, Lowe, Mar- ston & Co., London. Stone, R. H. In Africa's Forest and Jungle. Revell, New York. Vebner, S. p. Pioneering in Central Africa. Presby- terian Committee of Publication, Richmond, Va. Wilson, J. L. Western Africa. Harpers, New York. 300 Appendix C < u < t W 00 o CO C/3 Q 2 * Pl, < 1 pauodaj o .-!• S8U -■Bsuadsip 'si'BiidsoH 3»r-i ■«*C<9 ri*« sunioiSiiqrt U9 -niOAi. pan aaui nio ^ M "JS I- ^rt a o 1 w 3 amES n; s^aapnas 13 S ^. i OS snonninsni iaq3iH -KW IN ^ s; " sj^ioqos "11 is* 5S: siooqas-^BQ -SS--§| 0-* s If siuajaqpY to'g S 5 J? sjaBOtunranioo CO 11 co'-tn' — t-T ,-, co' : snoii'Bjs -ino pan saoiiBcis «CO|3^00J;;|^g=-0 ?? la sjasriOAi. aAiiBN mS S|^|S?5^2S : aaraoAi .^jbooissik 005 ■r^;oc-!-»* ao iM u3 -^ so t- •BOtijvmuBSaq :?jom iiliiiillil III ?! 3 -J c c c ii < c _c c > « c c >l i !^ 1 c : i ■•I i a ;b ^< c 1 s 1 c PC c K C. c Board of For. Miss., Evang. Luth. Gen'l Synod.. . Board of For. Miss., Presbyterian Ch., North Board of For. Miss., United Presbyterian Ch... . a ■■11 1 e 5 3 :c d Is •5.;£ .aid 'cj C OJX n a 11 ofc en fl op «;^ 1? II 1 a cS a o i 1 ;!5 Appendix C 301 ?ig icvioio -He<»-*«o^ioooi-iin tcr-.e<» t^oift ^-i-^tccoT-noroe^ir-ieoc ■♦ 1-H • 5C e» c^j bCCOOOJ -o cccoccoO'Xooco cococ MOO CO CO 00 CO cn o • i~ CO ri eoaoo»o»i -^roopsto e. (m „ (O ©g •=' ft ■gJSK OS « © a CO— 1 . a*:. © c6 a cd a » 9 5 « o w o "^ © aa 3 © © gtfa .«! •o a ;ja a .2<; aZ •Ed! CO "> "■' to 2S"-5^S ;5sss cSlStK , ® a" Sol oU w cc ;^ •< :cB c£.2ttl'5 ^,00 3 o 5 P o 5 =*i!i3i*CQ ;^ 5 5 o'S o o"S o =! ? >>-3;* 0.22 -s « « o o SiS-ooS-f c?: o •" ©^ 4=^ St! e-*^ ggjjf^agooo;;: as ia5^;^^s?i^?i:p © o < [astaa^ 5a o © oQ w a u © ■=.2i^-:=-J©'?S ^'.iS'^^MiO-l ■^ a .i -g c3 a S ^ bO aw ©^ *-* 5 o uja >. 3 a ° .2 ■ «3 o o S t« a .2-g|©^S cc v, rt X3 "^ ^ Sr^.SSSo !U o © o 1h -• c't^ 'c "E 3 ~ 3 — --• "Ma ca'u ojajajaxia t* cS o S o o^2;Si?2 „ o_^ • .5 'm cj 5 a ?l§l11li 302 Appendix C < u 2 ^ <: I" ^3 IZ ON 00 »0 "O ^ 05 3oco;o -« OO-^i-H lO ■ oo-*g -^ :j:^ r-< ^— laj;^. 00 03 CO 00 t- to cc cc 00 coco22°°'' ■^ rt »r e == =^ " O • 2 ? : t« ^ . = .? : - •a CO *05 iO O --T! O • to O ■* ;d CD to • C-. o CO >0 t-O -CCrHO H I- «D CC ■* N l« 5 O I-H I - J^ ■<»< -* e<>OrHCO_^ 00 CJ -H o' CI 1.-5 § §^ •ncji-cOf •rHOcOt-N l-OkOO«OCJ <«0 ■ O • 1-INO N -^ O IM V= ..-5 i-H O 1-1 i-H CO S^ i- ^ "^5; lO d tH t- t- 35 OS CO o •>* .e > > >. :sa : a) fl c3 :,a^ <» P5.2==M ^_-^§ 9S o M-j •■« 2 >"^J5 cj a ; cs o =* o CK -5 d "S . '" "5 .2 — ►^ 2 -2 =M "5; >,5! -" « o ^ o a o 0=^ ZB40Q0CICQ t-H cs ^ CO o CO ^ 6 "as fc5 P3^ 1^1 aHS,5 O o '^ j_ ® o "12 3 Is RELIGIOUS DIVISIONS OF AFRICA CCCC(C(CC(CCCCC(C (CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC ccccccccccccccccc EACH CRESCENT REPRESENTS ONEMILUON MOHAMMEDANS EACH CROSS "f T T THE WHITE CROSS RERRESENTS ONE MILLION ^^^ REPRESENTS LESS THAN ONE NOMINAL CHRISTIANS ^ " ^ MILUON ChRISTIM COMMUNiaHTS ■■■■BBBDBBBBBBIBBIB The above is one of a series of six wall charts which have recently been prepared and lithographed in colors, under the auspices of the Young People's Missionary Movement. The charts are 36x44 inches in size, and are printed on heavy paper. They are available to churches, Sunday schools, and other organizations, in unbroken sets of six, carefully packed in strong tubes for shipment. Information as to styles and prices may be secured by addressing the Young People's Missionary Movement, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, or your Denominational Missionary Board. ! — PORTIONS OF THE BIBLE HAVE BEEN TRANS- LATED INTO ABOUT 120 AFRICAN DIALECTS. THE FOLLOWING IS JOHN 3116 IN SIX OF THEM: S W A H I L I CE. Coast of AfHca) Kwani ndivyo Muungu alivyoupenda ulimwengu, akatoa na Mwana wake wa pekee, illi wote wam- waminio waupate uzima wa milele wala wasipotee. ZULU {Scmth Africa) Ngokuba uTixo wa li tanda kangaka izwe, wa li nika inDodana yake ezelweyo yodwa, ukuba bonke aba kolwa kuyo ba nga bubi, kodwa ba be nobomi obungapeliyo. KAFIR {South Africa) Ngokuba Utixo walitanda ilizwe kangaka, wada wanika unyana wake okupela kwozelweyo, ukuze osukuba ekolwa kuye angabubi, koko abe nobomi obungunapakade. HAUSSA {West Africa) I>o?i Alia ya so dunia hakkanan si ya bada Dansa nafari, en kowa ya yirda dasi, ba si gbata ba, amma si yi rai Tml abbada. M PO N G W E ( West Africa) Kande Anyambie arandi ntye yinla nli ntandinli me avenlie Ogwanli ye wikika, inle om' edu o beke- lie avere, ndo e be doanla nl'emenla zakanlaka. DIKELE {West AfHca) Nadiambilindi Anyambie a midinh penzhe nyi na thadinh that! tho tha ye mive Miana ngwei ngwadi- kika, na mutyi jeshe ngwa y6 bundlie a tyi magwa, nji a be' na thaki' th' adukwa jeshe. 5^-1 AFRICA 1805. GIAMBIS Of A ClFTiriRY AFRICA 1905 INDEX Abai River, 30 Abyssinia, 41, 47, 132, 172, 173, 182, 197, 213; visit of Portuguese, 6; mountains, 13; independence, 24 Abyssinian Church, 47, 173, 176, 178, (map) 193 Adamawa, 275 Adornment, 64, 65 Africa: before the Christian . era, 1-3; size, 10-12; physi- cal features, 12-19; climate and temperature, 18, 19; products, 19-23; minerals, 21-23; partition, 23, 24, 121, 122; European and Ameri- can enterprise, 24-27; com- merce, 27; exports and im- ports, 27; intoxicating liq- uors, 27; population, 28, 39, see also "Population"; cost in lives, 28-32; lan- guages and dialects, 47; re- ligious census, 45-47; dis- eases and preventives, 119, 146; Portuguese, Span- ish, French, 133; free col- onies, 188; in Bible story, 167; proportion to each mission worker, 275; latent forces, 279. See also di- visions, as "East Africa." African, the typical Pagan, 49-70; character, 69, 70; vei*y religious, 99; educa- tional capacity, 156-158; uplift, 107 "African Association," 8 Africaner, Chief, 185, 251- 253, (map) 184 American Baptist Missionary Union, 189 American Board, 150, 181 "American Mission" (United Presbyterian), 144, 193-197, 278 American Missions, 28, 29, 144; Kassai Mission, 114; American Board, 150, 181; pioneer Liberia work, 189; Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 189, 235, 236; Bap- tist Missionary Union, 189, 271; "American Mission" (United Presbyterian), 192- 197; Mission of Presbyter- ian Church, 237; Presbyter- ian Church, South, 238 Angola, 118, 133, 190, 191 "Apostle Street," 215 Arab traders, 123, 223 Arabic language, 47 Arabs in North Africa, 40 Ashanti country, 91, 94; king, 56; people, 126 Asser, native evangelist, 186 Assiut Training College, 194 Atbara River, 26 Atlas Range, 13 Baby, the African, 51, 52 Baganda, people of Uganda, 265, 272, 279 Bagirmi, 275 Bakete people, 279 Bakuba people, 280 Baluba people, 272, 280 Algeria, 19, 192 Bantu Africa, 43, 44; lan- guages, 44, 47; people, 186, (map) 224 Banyai, 186, (map) 184 Baptism of converts, 211, 267 307 3o8 Index Baptist Missionary Society (British), 181 Barotsiland, 187, 228; people, 186, (map) 184 Bashilange, 280, (map) 189 Basutoland, 148; work, 186, (map) 184 Batlokwa people, 115 Beaconsfield, 222 Beads, 48 Beehuanaland, 148, 220, 221, 230, 231, 257-261 Bechiuanas, 44, 185, 217-221, 261, (map) 184 Beirut College, 278 Belgium, 121, 141, 238 Bennett, J. Gordon, 226 Bentley, W. Holman, 67, 241 Benue River, 42 Betrothal of little girls, 54 Bible, 124. 127, 197; transla- tion, 118, 172, 220, 221, 263; circulation, 266, 270; read- ers, 156 Blaikie, William G., 222 Blantyre district, 124; Mis- sion, 199, (map) 198 Blue Nile, 30 Blythswood Mission, 186, (map) 184 Boers, 183, 229, 231, 232 Bornu, 275, (map) 275 Bovuma Island, 147 Boyhood, 53 Brick-making, 48; brick- mould, 160 British Central Africa, 124, 160, 161; government, 130, 155 British Missions: Ldving- stonia Mission, 114, 130, 155, 199, 269; Baptist Mis- sionary Society, 181; So- ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel, London, Scottish and Wesleyan So- cieties, 182; Lovedale In- dustrial Mission, 185; Blythswood Mission, 186; Nonconformist societies, 189; Church Missionary So- ciety, 189, 192, 213, 267; North Africa Mission, 192; London Missionary Society, 199, 229; Blantyre Mission, 199; Universities' Mission, 199, 243, (map) 198 British Nigeria, 142-144, 147 Bruce, James, in Abyssinia, 7, 8 Brussels Conference, 143 Burial, 67; burial alive, 92, 108, 111; hut burial, 67 "Bush Schools," 54, 55 Bushmen, 44, 45. 79, 184, (map) 184 Buxton, Sir T. Fowell, 232 Calabar, 190; Old Calabar, 148, 190, 241, (map) 189 Cannibalism, 51, 93, 94, 108. Ill, 143, 265, 271, 272, (map) 224 Cape Colony 19, 159, 182, 231 Cape of Good Hope, named, 5 Cape to Cairo railway, 25, 231, (map) 25 Cape Town, 210, 211, 251 Carey, William, 181 Carpenters, 155, 160 Central Africa, 40, 44, 185, 197, 273 Chamberlain, Joseph, 231, 232 Character, transformed, 148 Charms, 80-82, 179 Chiefs, native, 185 Child life, 52-54 Children, 57, 58 China, 12, 107, 158 Chinese in Africa, 39, 131 Chitambo, 238, (map, 224 Christ among Mohammedan prophets, 110 Index 309 Christian Africa, 46, 47; numbers, 46, 274 Christian conscience, 142, 188 Christian Missions, 4, 28-32, 70, 110, 112, 114, 123, 144- 150; British policy, 124; fourfold method, 151-161; early church, 170-175; me- diaeval church, 179, 180, 207-210; modern church, 180-200; enlisted universi- ties, 208; work remaining to be done, 274-283 Chrtstian population, 41, 46, 47 Christianity: Africa's need of, 71; transformation by, 107; compromised by liquor traffic, 127; leavening force, 141, 145, 148; need of evangelistic power, 156; early growth, 169-175; able to win the Dark Continent, 282 Christians, early, 169-178; native, gifts of, 186 Chuma, 69 Church bells, 124 Church of England, 182, 267 Church Missionary Society, 189, 234, (maps) 193, 198 Civilization, evil phases of, 70, 71, 120; checked, 141, 142 Climate, 18, 19, 119, 146 Coal, 22 Coast lands, 12, 120, 143 Cocoanut palm culture, 160 Coillard, Frangois, 186, 228 Colenso, Bishop, 158, 159 Colleges, 158 Comber, Thomas J., 239-241, (map) 189 Commerce, 27, 120, 141, 144, 145, 223 Congo basin, 18, 21, 24, 44, 121, 147, 148, 191, 243, 270- 273; language, 47; Mission, 241; River, 5, 7, 9, 13-15, 26, 134, 179, 191, 214, 257; State, 24; oppression, 121, 122; tribes, 19 L Continental Missions: Paris Society, 115; Rhenish Mis- sionary Society, 132; Mora- vian Missions, 182, 210; Lutheran Missionaries, 182; Swedish Missionary So- ciety, 197 Converts, native, 256, 257, 273 Converts of Islam, Moham- medan costume, 48 Cooks, 160 Coptic Church, 47, 173, 177, 178, (map) 193 Coptic population of Egypt, 41 Copts, 193-195 Costume, the Mohammedan, 48 Cotton cloth, 48 Cowries, 48 Cox, Melville B., 236-238, 242, (map) 189 Cross, Dr. D. K., 146 Crowther, Bishop Samuel A., 127, 128, 253, (map) 189 Cruikshank, 94 Crusaders, the, 188, 207, 208 Currency, 48, 145, 146 Da Gama, Vasco, 5 Darfur, 275 "Dark Continent," meaning of, 1 Dead, messages to, 92, 93 "Deadland," 77, 91 Death rate, 51 Deaths of natives, 66; by violence, 95 Diamonds, 21, 22; mines, 39; value of product, 27 3IO Index Diaz, Bartholomew, 5 Diseases, African, 146 Drakenberg Mts., 13 Dreams, native view of, 78 Dress, native, 64 Drummond, Henry, 200, 228, 254, 255 Drunkenness, 108 Dutch in South Africa, 6, 7, 183, 210-212, 251 East Africa, 13, 39, 45, 47, 120, 123, 133, 145, 197; Mis- sions, 197-200 East Central Africa, 13, 198 Education, native, 49, 50, 158 Educational Missions, 156- 159 Egypt, 1-24, 41, 168-173 Egyptian Christians, 176; Missions, 192-197 Eleazer, native evangelist, 187 Elmslie, W. A., 98, 124, 269 England, 6, 7, 129, 220, 221, 228-233, 253, 258 Ethiopia, 3, 168-173 "Ethiopian Movement," 131 Europe, 117, 121, 126, 208 Evangelistic Missions, 152-154 Evangelists, native, 156, 266 Exploration and explorers, 4-10, 28-32, 179, 214, 223- 228 Family, in Africa, 57-61 Farming, 49, 66 Fashoda, 196 Felashas, 47 Fetish, 180; doctor, 81 Fetichism, 77-101 Fever, African, 146 Food, 63, 64, 192, 215 Forests, 18 Frazer, Melville, 191. Free Town, Sierra Leone, 253 Freedom of slaves, 144-146 French in Africa, 6, 24; Madagascar, 133, 264 Frere, Sir Bartle, 230 Fulahs, 42, 43, 253, (map) 275 Funerals, 66, 67 Future life, 100, 101 Gabun, 190, 237, 241, (map) 189 Gallaland, 197 Gambia River, 16 Gando, 275, (map) 295 Garenganze country, 191 Geddy, King, 281, (map) 189 German East Africa, 145; Kamerun, 157; Southwest Africa, 122, 132 Girlhood, 52, 53, 54 Gladstone, 222 God, power of true idea, 90 Gods, 87-90; Pagan concep- tion of, 83-87, 100 Gold Coast, 6, 22, 190, (map) 21 Gold, production of, 27, 39 Goldie, Sir George, 142 Good, Adolphus C, 236-238, (map) 189 Gordon College, 124 Grain Coast, 6, (map) 21 Great Britain, 141; expan- sion, 185; policy, 124, 125, 196, 229-231 Grenfell, 30, 241 Guinea Coasts, 4-21, 40, 41 Hannington, Bishop, 243 Hartzell, Bishop J. C, 38, 118, 281 Kansas, 42, 43, 47, 191, 279 "Head-money," 57 Heathenism defined, 107 Hepburn, J. D., 259 "Hinterland," 24 Holzapfel, Mr. 132 Hottentots, 44, 182-185, 211, (map) 184 Index 311 Human sacrifice, 143, 265 Huts, native, 60, 62; hut burial, 67, 68 India, 107; natives in Africa, 39, 131 Industrial Missions, 154, 155, 158 Industries, 48, 49, 141, 185 Immoral life, native, 100, 108-112; foreign, 120, 125 Infant mortality, 51 Infanticide, 51, 52 Inhambane district, 133 Ilala, 228 Islam. See "Mohammedan- ism" Ivory, 23; Coast, 6, 190, (map) 21 Jack, J. W., 269 Jackson, J. J., 149 Jesuits, 30, 132, 182, 213 Jews, 47, 171, 197 Johnston, Sir H. H., 161 Jones, David, 262, (map) 184 Journeys of Livingstone, 223, (m^p) 224 Kaffirs, 131, 184 Kalahari Desert, 17, 44 Kalley, Dr. R. R., 187 Kamerun, 146, 157, 190; Mountains, 13 ; Mohamme- dans in, 45 Kanem, 275 Kassai River, 238; Valley, 272, 279; Mission, 114, 191 Kathokan, 116 Kenia Mt., 13 Khama, King, 185, 257-261, (map) 184 Khartum, 25, 124, 196 Kilima-Njaro Mt., 13, 214 Kolobeng, 226 Koran, 111, 124 Kordofan, 275 Krapf, John, and Rosina, 30, 132, 192, 198, 199, 213, 217, (map) 198 Kuruman, 219 Labor in Africa, 39, 130, 131 Lagos, 190 Lakes, 13, 14 Languages, 47, 118, 119, 150 Lapsley, Samuel N., 238, 239, 272, (map) 189 Laws, Dr., 269 Leopold, King, 121, 250 Liberia, 24, 188-190, 281 Life of natives precarious, 51 Limpopo River, 17 Lindley, 241 Linyanti, 9, 223 Liquor traffic, 125-129; 142, 143, 190, 259-261 Literature, Christian, 118, 150, 156, 195 Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, 146 Livingstone, David, 8, 9, 29, 32, 142, 185, 199, 200, 222- 228, (maps) 184, 224 Livingstone, Mrs., 222, 225 Livingstonia Mission, 114, 124, 130, 199, 269; Indus- trial, 130, 155 London Missionary Society, 182, 229, 233 Lord's Supper, 220, 254 Lovedale Industrial Mission, 155, 185, (map) 184 Luebo, 238, 272, 280, (maps) 189, 224 Lugard, Captain, 111 Lull, Raymond, 208-210, 244, (map) 193 Lunda plateau, 279 Lutheran missions and mis- sionaries, 132, 182 MacDonald, Dr. Duff, 93 Mackay, Alexander, 132, 156, 198, 233-235, 265 Mackenzie, Bishop, 243 312 Index Mackenzie, John, 30, 31, 185, 229-233, 258 Madagascar, 125, 145; French oppression, 133, 134 Madeira Islands, 133, 187 Makololo country, 223; peo- ple, 185, (map) 184 Malagasy, 262 MaNhalla, 116 Man's domain in Africa, 60-62 Maps, early, 2; modern, 10 Marriage, 54-56, 149 Martyrs, 171, 175, 210, 234, 263, 267 Massaquai, Prince, 129 McAllister, Agnes, 126 McKinley, President, 250 Medical Missions, 151, 152 Mediterranean Coast, 39, 47, 171 Menelik, King, 6 Mills, Samuel J., 181 Minerals, 21, 22 Mines, 59; mission work at, 153 Missionaries, number giving life, 29; explorers, 4, 30, 31; qualifications, 243, 244 Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 189 Missions: Protestant, 29, 32, 114, 115, 130, 132-134, 144; African beginnings, 181- 183; obstacles, 183; South African field, 183-187, 210- 213, 217-233, 251-253, 257- 261; West African field, 187-192, 235-241, 255-257, Madeira Islands, 187; Pyg- mies, 191, 192; North Afri- can and Egyptian field, 192-197; East African field, 197-200, 213-217, 254, 255, 265-270; other notable names, 241; woman's work, 242; present service, 243, 244; Madagascar, 261-264; Congo basin, 270-273; Ro- man Catholic, 30, 179-181; African native mission ser- vice, 185-187, 194, 195, 251- 274 Mockler-Ferryman, Col. A. F., 147 Moffat, Robert, and Mary, 217-222, 251, 252, (map) 184 Mohammed, 4, 40, 110 Mohammedanism, entrance into Africa, 40; missions, 41; field, 42-45; members, 45, 46; origin, 110; proph- ets, 110; intemperance, 111; influence on its converts, 110, 111, 114; clothes. 111, 112; now native to Africa, 112; numbers, 112; aggres- siveness, 113; Cairo "uni- versity," 113; British policy toward, 124, 125; how ad- vanced, 127; factors in con- version of, 144, 193-196; its early opportunity, 176; a barrier, 178, 192-196, 234; efforts for, 207-210; aiming at continent, 277; must be evangelized, 278 Molique, King, 127, (map) 189 Mombasa, 26, 213 Mombasa-Uganda railway, 26, 45 Money, 48, 49 Moolu, 254, 225 Morley, John, 232 Morocco, 19, 24 Mosquitoes and malaria, 146, 147 Mountains, 12, 13, (relief map, following page 12) Namaqualand, 251 Natal, 5, 149 Ndombe, King, 250 Index 313 Ndombe, town, 280, (map) 224 Negro, 39, 40, 168; promi- nence in Sudan, 41; brain capacity, 156-158; early- missionary influence, 189; stability, 176, (map) 275 Ngoniland, 148; people, 155, 269 Niger River, 9, 14, 15, 40, 42, 191, 253, 274 Nigeria, British, 142, 144 Nile River, 1-15, 26, 39, 64, 196, 214; Upper, 1, 41, 170; Valley, 167 Noble, F. P., 159 North Africa, 40, 47, 123, 169-176; Mission (British), 192; Missions, 192-197 North America, 39, 276 Nubia, 172 Nupe country, 127, 128 Nyasa Lake, 13-16, 269; coun- try, 148 Officials, foreign, 119-121, 125, 130, 146, 148, 159, 196 Ogowe River, 191 Old Calabar, 148, 190, 241 O'Neill, Thomas, 243 Ophir, 2, 22 Omnge culture, 160 Orange River, 17 Ostrich culture, 20 Pagan Africa, 41, 43; popu- lation, 45, 109, 110; African, 49-70, 217 Paganism defined, 107; Afri- can, 77-101; problem, 109, 110 "Palaver," 50, 61 Papal bull, 134 Paris Missionary Society, 115 Parker, Bishop, 243 Partition of Africa, 23, 24 Pastors, native, 124 Paul the Apostle of Banza Manteke, 255, (map) 189 "Pentecost on the Congo," 241, 271 Persecution, 196 Philippine Islands, 133 Phoenicians, 2 Plateaus, 12-14 Polygamy, 56, 57, 108, 114- 116, 149, 265 Population, Africa, 39; na- tive, 28, 39; white, 39; Negro or Sudan, 41; Pagan, 45, 109, 110; Christian, 46; Jews, 47; natives of India, 39; Chinese, 39 Portugal, 4, 5, 141 Portuguese, 6, 7, 122, 123, 187; missions, 30, 77, 179, 180 "Possession," by a divinity, 100 Powers, foreign, 23, 24, 48, 121-125, 129, 142, 143 Prayers, 192, 219, 255, 257 Preachers, native, 118, 156 Presbyterian Church Mis- sion, 237 Priests and priestesses, na- tive, 100 Principe Island, 123 Printers, native, 155, 160, 161 Problems, African, 107-134; solution, 141-161 Products of Africa, 19-23, (map) 21 Prohibition of liquor traffic, 143. 259-261 Property in Africa, 68, 145 Protectorates, British, 142, 233 Protestants, 46; French, 134 Ptolemaic system taught, 113 Pygmies, 44, 45, 191, 192 Quanza River, 191 Quilimane, 224 314 Index Race problems, 130-132 Radama, King, 262 Railroads, 16, 25-27, ' 120, (map) 25 Ranavalona, Queen, 262 Rebmann, 30, 199, 214 Red Sea, 17, 26, 197 Reincarnation, 100, 101 Religions, native, 99-101, 127 Rhenish Missionary Society, 132 Rhodes, Cecil, 231 Rhodesia, 52 Richards, Henry, 241, 271 Rickard, Mr., 239 Rivers, 13-17, (relief map, following page 12) Roads, 145 Robert College, 278 Robinson, Canon, 111 Roman Catholics in Africa, 46; missions, 180, 181 Roman Catholic opposition, 132, 133; persecution, 187, 264 Royal Geographical Society, 8, 224 Rubber, 122 Ruwenzori Mt., 13 Sacrifices, 79, 80; human, 51, 79, 90-94, 108, 111, 143 Sahara Desert, 1, 17, 20, 41 Saint Francis of Assisi, 208 Saint Paul de Loanda, 9 Sanitary interests, 146 Sankuru-Kassai peninsula, 280 San Thome Island, 123 Saracens, 207 Savannahs of Africa, 17, 18 Schmidt, George, 182, 210 Schools, mission, 122, 156, 158, 194, 211, 264, 273 Sebituane, Chief, 185, (map) 184 Self-support, 124, 185, 241 Senegal River, 7, 16, 17 Shaftesbury, Lord, 232 Shire River, 15, 16 Shoshong, 230, (map) 184 Shupanga, 225, (map) 224 Sierra Leone, 182, 188-190 Sims, 241 Slatin Pasha, 111 Slave Coast, 6, 100, 190, (map) 21 Slave trade, foreign, 32, 41, 42, 116, 123, 142, 187, 189, 190. 223 Slavery, 111, 179, 188, 188; domestic, 51, 58, 108, 111, 114, 116-118, 122, 123, 144- 146, 265 Sleeping sickness, 147 Smart, Rev. and Mrs. W. G., 187 "Smelling-out," 96-98 Smith, Lieut. Shergold, 243 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 182 Sokotra Island, 172 Somaliland, 45 South Africa, 17, 19-22, 27, 39, 59, 115, 133, 145, 155, 182, 183, 274; Missions, 183- 187 South Central Africa, 9 Southeast Africa, 47 Southwest Africa, 44 Spheres of influence, 23, 24 Splrlt-world of African, 50, 78, 82, 107 Stanley, Henry M., 1, 9, 10, 222, 226, 227, 233, 240, 265 Statistics of Africa: Size, 11; commerce, 27; population, 39-47; importations of liq- uor, 126; Roman Catholic native communicants, 180; Protestant communicants In Central Africa, 273; work in Egypt, 193-195; in Mada- gascar, 264; in Uganda, 267, Index 315 268; total sumsiaries, Sta- tistical Tables, 300 Stead, W. T., 31 Steere, Bishop, 241 Stewart, James, 39, 186 Stock, Eugene, 216 Student Volunteer Band, 194 Sudan, 19, 20, 40, 41, 45, 47, 113, 123, 191 274, 276, 279; Egyptian, 124, 196, (map) 275 Supan, Dr. A., 39 Susi, 69 Swahili language, 47 Swedish Missionary Society, 197 Tanganyika Lake, 13, 14, 185, 227 Tattooing, 64 Taylor, Bishop William, 241 Tchad Lake, 14, 40 Teachers, native, 194, 266 Telegraphers, 155, 160, 161 Temperature, 19 Tetanus, 51 Tom-tom, 66 Trade, 47-49, 146 Traders, foreign, 119, 125 Tribal life, 68 Tsetse fly, 147 Tunis, 209 Twin superstition, 52 Ubangi River, 30, (map) 189 Uganda, 26, 44, 45, 120, 145, 147, 148, 156, 198. 199, 216, 235, 243, 265-268, (map) 224 Ujiji, 226, (map) 224 United States, 109, 158, 275 Universities' Mission, 199 Upper Nile, 41 Veldts, 17 Verner, S. P., 114, 126, 191, ^^ 250, 272, 273, 279, 280 "Vianga-Vianga," 240 Vices, 108, 111, 190 Victoria Falls, 16 Victoria Nyanza Lake, 13, 14 Vulgate translation, 172 Wadai, 275 Waddell, 241 War, South African, 232 Wars, native, 143 Watson, Dr. Andrew, 195, 196 Wesleyan work, 182 West Africa, 133, 181, 179; Missions, 187-192 West Coast, 4, 6, 7, 9, 13, 26, 46, 223, 243, (map) 189 White, A. S., 126, 127 White man's responsibility, 28; peril from, 119, 120 White population of Africa. 39 Williams College, 181 Wilson, John Leighton, 241 Witboi, Henry, 132 Witch doctor, palaver, trials, 96-99 Witchcraft, 51, 95-99, 111, 143, 265 Wives in polygamy, 115; number, 56 Woman's domain, 65, 66; du- ties, 61, 62 Women converts, steadfast- ness, 115 Women, mission workers, 187. 213, 214, 217-221, 225, 242 World's Parliament of Relig- ions, 129 "Yer," 192 Yoruba country, 190; people, 253, (map) 189 Zambezi, 9, 13, 15, 16, 191, 223, 225, 274 Zanzibar, 45 Zomba, 161 Zulus, 44, 47, 124, 131, 159, 185, 242, (map) 184 The Forward Mission Study Courses •« Anywhere, provided it be forward." — David Livingstone. Prepared under the auspices of the YOUNG PEOPLES MISSIONARY MOVEMENT Editorial Committee: — S. Earl Taylor, Harry Wade Hicks, John Willis Baer, John W. Wood, A. W. Halsey, Don O. Shelton. The Forward Mission Study Courses are an outgrowth of a conference of leaders in Young People's Mission Work, held in New York City, December, 1901. To meet the need that was manifested at that conference, for Mission Study Text-Books suitable for Young People, two of the delegates, Professor Amos R. Wells, of the United Society of Christian Endeavor and Mr. S. Earl Taylor, Chairman of the General Missionary Committee of the Epworth League, projected the Forward Mission Study Courses. These courses have been officially adopted by the Young People's Missionary Movement and are now under the immediate direction of the Executive Committee of the Move- ment, which consists of the young people's secretaries or other official representatives of fifteen of the leading Missionary Boards of America. The aim is to publish a series of text-books covering the various home and foreign mission fields and written by leading authorities with special reference to the needs of young people. The entire series vi^hen completed will comprise perhaps as many as twenty text-books. A general account will be given of some of the smaller countries, such as Japan, Korea and Turkey ; but, for the larger fields, as China, Africa, and India, the general account will be supplemented by a series of biographies of the principal missionaries connected with the country. The various home mission fields will also be treated both biographically and historically. The following text-books have been published : — 1. The Price of Africa. (Biographical.) By S. Earl Taylor. 2. Into All tlie World. A general survey of missions. By Amos R. Wells. 3. Princely Men in the Heavenly Kingdom. (Biographical.) By Harlan P. Beach, M. A., F. R. G. S. 4. Child Life in Mission Lands. A course of study for Junior Societies. By Ralph E. Diffendorfer. 5. Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom. A Study of Japan. By Rev. John H. De Forest, D. D. 6. Heroes of the Cross in America. Home missons. (Bio- graphical.) By Don O. Shelton. 7. Daybreak in the Dark Continent. A Study of Africa. By Wilson S. Naylor. Among the writers that have been secured for other text- books of the series, are Bishop J. M. Thoburn, D.D., of India ; Harry Wade Hicks ; S. Earl Taylor ; Robert E. Speer ; Wil- liam Carey, of India; Rev. E. E. Strong, D.D, ; Rev. Edward Judson, D.D. ; and Rev. J. M. Buckley, D.D. These books are published by mutual arrangement among the denominational publishing houses, to whom all orders should be addressed. They are bound uniformly, and are sold for 50 cents, in cloth, and 35 cents, in paper. Study classes desiring more advanced text-books are referred to the admirable series published by the interdenominational committee of the Woman's Boards. The volumes already pub- lished are : — Via Christi. A Study of Missions before Carey. By Louise Manning Hodgkins. Lux Christi. A Study of Missions in India. By Caroline Atwater Mason. Rex Christus. A Study of Missions in China. Z By Rev. Arthur H. Smith, D. D. Dux Christus. A Study of Missions in Japan. By Rev. W. E. Griffis, D. D. Christus Liberator. A Study of Missions in Africa. By Ellen C. Parsons, M.A. Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries 1012 01234 8399