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SKETCHES
FROM THE
DARK CONTINENT
BY
WIUJS R. HOTCHKISS.
» o o B 3
published by
The Friends Bible Insitute
and Training School,
cleveland, ohio.
1901.
THE LIBRARY OF
CONGRESS,
Two Copies Receives
JUL. 26 1901
Copyright entry
CLASS c\,xxe. N».
COPY B.
COPYRIGHT 1 9OI
BY THE
FRIENDS BIBLE INSTITUTE
AND TRAINING SCHOOL
«•* • ••• •*••
. . •• •.,'.«
«• •• •«• ••«•
• • •*• ••• ••
• •• •• « * * e c # e
<•«* «.«
A
J
0*
PRESS OF S J. MONCK,
CLEVELAND, O.
/$>
To my dear parents
who with rare self-sacrifice
gave me
to the work, and whose unfailing-
love and tender devotioit
sustained me
through many a trying hour,
this volume is affcctio7iatciy
dedicated
by the Author.
' ' The night lies dark upon the earth, and we have light y
So many have to grope their way, and we have sight ;
One path is theirs and ours — of sin and care,
But we are borne along, and they their burdens bear.
Foot-sore, hea7't-weary, faint they on their way,
Mute in their sorrow, while we kneel and pray ;
Glad are they of a stone on which to rest,
While we lie pillowed on the Pat her'' s breast."
PREFACE.
THREE considerations have influenced me in pub-
lishing these sketches of my experiences in Africa.
But for these I should not have been persuaded to do so.
First: — A sense of the Divine call; Second: — This call
reinforced by, or perhaps I had better say made
apparent to me through numerous and urgent requests
from friends in those places where it has been my
privilege to tell the story of the Lord's faithfulness to
me in the Dark Continent; Third: — Because there is
so little distinctively Friends' literature.
While I am sensitive of the fact that my contribu-
tion to such a literature may be exceedingly small and
scarcely worth a place, } T et if it can be used of the
Lord in arousing an interest and securing the co-oper-
ation of a few who are not now interested in the great
work of world-evangelization, I shall feel amply repaid.
With all our missionary meetings, and in spite of
all the stirring addresses on the subject of missions,
there will be no real vital awakening, much less per-
6 Sketches from the
manent aud enduring interest, until the glaring facts
as to heathendom's actual condition and needs are
studied — actually studied, not merely read as an inter-
esting, though dreadful tale in the light of the com-
mand of Jesus Christ, and of the obligation which that
command lays upon us.
This volume does not pretend to be exhaustive,
but merely suggestive. It is not even a consecutive
record of my life during those four years of difficult,
yet blessed service, though there has been some regard
to order in the arrangement of the chapters. It is, as
its name implies, a few salient points gathered from
the records of my diary.
I have tried to depict as clearly as possible the
daily life of a pioneer missionary in a part of Africa
which is but little known.
I could not enter into minute details without
greatly enlarging the scope of the book, which I did
not feel led to do. I trust, however, that enough has
been said to give a somewhat clear impression of the
actual conditions attending such a work — its difficulties,
its dangers, its possibilities, its encouragements, its
successes — and lead to more definiteness in prayer and
more zeal in service for the coming of His Kingdom
Dark Continent. 7
and the glory of His Name in the great lost continent.
Ethiopia is stretching out her hands unto God,
and my earnest hope is that this little record may be
instrumental in some degree toward filling those hands
with the Bread of Life.
Willis R. Hotchkiss.
Cleveland, O., 2nd. mo., 1901.
AFRICA'S AWAKENING— AN ALLEGORY.
THE great giant Africa has been asleep, but he is wak*
ing up, and the stretching of his limbs is shaking*
the world. For long centuries he has been lying in a
stupor right across the world's path-way. His younger
brother Europe for a long while had to pass clear
around his prostrate form in order to visit India, the
elder, but finally hit upon the simple plan of cutting*
off one of the big fellow's arms, which greatly simpli*
fied matters and brought about a closer union of the
two extreme branches of the world family than had
been possible before.
The pain caused by this operation really awoke
the sleeping giant, and now he is sitting up, rubbing
his eyes, and beginning to ask questions about things.
He wonders — does this big, black, ignorant savage-
how these little brothers of his have acquired so much
power. It's all so new and strange and altogether
perplexing to him.
Before he went to sleep he was rich and powerful,
and altogether beyond the rest of the family in several
io Sketches from the
branches of learning; now he finds himself an object
of pity, or of contempt, or possibly of utter indifference.
Meanwhile, his children have been growing up uncared
for, untaught — a wild, lazy, reckless horde at the
mercy of every adventurer.
He has dim recollections of the sweet-faced, kindly
teacher called "Christian, ' ' who taught them long years
ago, and whose success had been so great in taming their
wild passions. He also remembers a little, how that
father and mother with the w T onderful Child came to
him fleeing from the wrath of Rome, and he threw
about them the protection of his brawny arm until the
danger w T as past. And though but a memory, the
sweetness of it is with him yet, and softens in some
degree the hard lines which age and trouble have
furrowed in his countenance.
And then with shame he remembers how a bold-
faced, deceitful, yet attractive 3-oung woman called
Islam, captivated him; he listened to her seductive
voice and specious reasoning, drank the potions she
gave him, and then — came darkness and for get fulness.
Twelve centuries he has been lying thus, while
Islam, with stern visage and cruel method has forced
her false hopes upon multitudes of his children.
Dark Continent. i i
She tells them of a hard, implacable, vengeful
Being called Allah, whose rule over men is one of blind
force, unrelieved by the finer attributes of love and
mercy.
Certainly they would not be attracted to any such
being; but terrified and subdued by her uplifted sword
they submit, and then she lures them on by promises of
sensuous delights till they, intoxicated with the dream
of such a heaven and goaded on to frenzy by the prom-
ise of reward if they destroy all who oppose, fling them-
selves in fanatical rage against their brothers. The
path of Islam is a path of blood. Wherever she goes,
the clank of the chain, and the crack of the whip are
heard. Womanhood is immeasurably degraded. Islam
waylays progress and murders morality. Mercy is for-
gotten under the spell of her witchcraft, and love is
paralyzed. Deceitful, double-dealing, unscrupulous
herself, all who come under the influence of her teach-
ing partake of her character.
Her conquest has been steady, but not by any
means easy. She found many who could not soon forget
or be easily lured from their allegiance to the radiantly
beautiful "Christian. ' ' Many years and even centuries
of carnage it took to obliterate from their memories
12 Sketches from the
that face. But time and fear and isolation did the
work eventually in almost every one. A stalwart
fellow, Abyssinia, managed to keep his garments
though they are sadly torn and bedraggled, and his
ideas have gone awry through lack of companionship.
But he is coming round one of these days, and under
Christian's tutelage will become one of her strongest
allies in the work of bringing the refractory brothers
into* line again.
Yes, Christian has come again, and the giant is
waking up. Sometime he is going to have decided
opinions of his own about God, and immortality and
the future life. But those opinions will depend
altogether upon his teachers. Islam will come, as she
has come to his children, with her book which tells of
Allah, and his prophet Mohommed — a fascinating story,
but cold and heartless. But her day is past, her sun
is setting, her glory is departing. Another teacher,
" fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as an army
with banners ' ' has come to enlighten poor Africa.
Her sword is a Book, and that book contains the story
of ineffable love. She has no theories, no vain specula-
tions that make nothing clear, no metaphysical disser-
tations which only make the fog of uncertainty more
Dark Continent. 13
dense; she speaks of a personal God, with whom she
holds sweet converse, calling Him Father, and of His
wonderful Son Jesus Christ.
This Son of God has so won her heart, that she
never tires of speaking His praises. He it is, who is
the author of her Book, and its every word is precious
to her. No wonder it is the companion of her quiet
hours; her solace when sorrow comes, her guide in
perplexity ; in a word, the solution for her of all the
riddles of existence!
In her self-effacing desire that every burdened
soul should share with her the joys of such a friend-
ship, she has left the comforts and conveniences of her
home to enlighten the wild sons of Africa. Much
suffering she has had to endure in the person of her
messengers, and privations not a few. But she has
done it "joyfully for her Lord's sake."
Once she was compelled to go without bread for over
fourteen months, and a good part of this time she was
forced to subsist on the native diet of beans and sour
milk. But He was with her all the time, comforting,
blessing, upholding, so that even this poor fare became
a veritable feast. Then she managed to grow some
wheat. Fourteen months abstinence from bread gave
14 Sketches from the
her added energy in its cultivation. Her joy was
great as she saw it grow up, and head out, and turn
golden in the sunlight. It was a beautiful sight to
her tired eyes. Then it was reaped, a handful at a
time, and some of her friends whom she had gained
by this time among the sons and daughters of Africa,
beat it out with sticks and she had a good supply —
enough to provide her with bread for many months to
come. She revelled in the prospect before her.
But there came a famine, which wrought sad
havoc among those thoughtless, improvident sons of
darkness. Time and again she looked upon their
forms stretched out in death upon the plains; and
more than once she came near stumbling over a stark
form, lying in the path, hands clenched, teeth set,
body twisted as in those last awful convulsions of death
from starvation. Men and women and children whom
she could call by name and who were dear to her for
His sake whom she loved, came slowly toward her,
with hands outstretched in mute appeal for food.
Then there came before her the vision of her prec-
ious wheat, the one luxury toward which she had
looked so long. Here was a need, she had a supply
for that need. Which should it be ? her desire or their
O
CO
Dark Continent. 15
need ? her luxury or their necessity ? must she really
give it up ?
Only for an instant did she hesitate, for she saw
another vision which settled the question forever. She
saw Him who had once received in Himself a blow
that had been aimed at her, and she had promised
Him her heart in return, henceforth to live, not unto
herself, but unto Him who had died for her. When
He saw, He felt, and when He felt he did, and per-
haps it was because she had caught some of that self-
same spirit, that she now gladly yielded her luxury to
meet the greater necessity of the famishing ones.
She could well afford to do without bread for a few
months longer, but she could not bear to look upon
those eyes that had closed in death for her; to gaze
upon those cruel scars which had purchased her free-
dom from a dreadful fate, and then hear Him say, "I
was hungry and ye gave me no meat; thirsty, and ye
gave me no drink; naked and ye clothed me not."
It would have been very ungrateful in her to have
consulted her own convenience rather than His express
wish in this case. The voice of their need was but the
voice of her Beloved calling her to the exercise of that
spirit which He had taught her to manifest in His stead
while He was absent from her.
1 6 Sketches from the
For a long time she had forgotten this, and that
is the reason why poor Africa was forgotten while
sleeping on through those twelve centuries. She heard
the seductive voice of the world, listened to its flat-
teries, looked enviously upon the gaudy apparel and
rich jewels offered her, thought her place was to rule
rather than to serve, gave herself up to pleasure's
intoxication, and very soon forgot Her Lord and His
parting message to her.
But now, with self-will submerged in His will, she
labors patiently and uncomplainingly for the redemp-
tion of these neglected children of the dark. She does
not murmur, though far from home among people who
have nothing in common with her; who are unsympa-
thetic and unappreciative, often meeting her kindest
actions with abuse and cruelty, or at best with indiffer-
ence.
She can endure this, however, for she expects
nothing better from them since all their life has been
spent under conditions calculated to foster such a
spirit. But the indifference of her friends at home in
spite of her earnest representations of the need, does
give her a sense of aloneness almost unbearable at
times. These friends of hers are good, well-meaning
Dark Continent. 17
neople, live in fine houses, dress well, enjoy all the
comforts and many of the luxuries of life. Indeed they
have even studied from that same Book which tells
about Him. It must be that they have not met Him,
for those who really meet Him are never quite the
same as they were before. Something in that contact
has imparted itself to them, and they begin to think
His thoughts after Him.
True, they think of her sometimes, and in great
commiseration for her hard lot as they imagine,
occasionally send her help, but it is so pitifully
inadequate! And Christian's efforts are blocked. The
good she would do she cannot do. She beholds the
unutterable wretchedness of these around her, and she
fain would help them.
She is sure that she has a message that will bring
new life to them, she has a seed that once planted in
those hard hearts will rend them so that it can take
root and bear fruit for His garner. She believes — be-
cause her Book says so — that this is the only hope for
these blindly groping multitudes. If there were some
other she might be less zealous, but how can she rest
at ease while these are perishing through lack of
knowledge she might give them? She wonders then
1 8 Sketches from the
how her frieiids can remain so careless when such
momentous issues are at stake !
But despite all this, she is surely winning her
way into the affections of the barbarous sons of Africa.
Very many of them have been won to Him. The
sweet story of the Book lays hold of them : they catch
something of that wondrous life ; the old life is for-
saken and the old habits drop off as dead leaves of
autumn when the power of Spring's new life courses
through the tree. Persecuted, tortured, subjected to
nameless cruelties, at the hands of their fanatical
brothers as they frequently are, yea, even martyred,
yet amid the flames of martyrdom singing the praises
of Him of whom she had told them.
Finally wearied, broken, she is urged by her friends
to leave her beloved task and rest awhile with them.
Here she is looked upon as an unnatural enthusiast, so
far is it from being the present custom of the Friends
of Christ to forsake all and follow Him. Now they
leave only that which is coyivenient, giving Him the
bones after they have devoured the meat. As wealth
increases their houses seem too small, their servants too
few, their garments too plain ; so while He waits for a
dwelling, His house in rums, these, forgetting that
Dark Continent. 19
they are dependants upon His bounty and grace, rear
them massive houses, clothe them in gorgeous apparel,
surround them with every luxury, instead of seeing in
their increase of wealth an increase of power to do good
in His name.
When she tells them the story of Africa's waking
up, and shows the awful condition of his sons and
daughters, they say "how very interesting!" and with
aching heart she sees them go their way to spend the
price of a soul on some useless extravagance. Africa
is waging up, but shall it be to Christ or Islam — the
cross or the cresent!
20 Sketches from the
CHAPTER I.
Africa, past and present— Caravan traveling; its lights and
shadows — A night attack — A lion in camp* — My first rhinoceros
— A night tramp in the desert — Charged by a rhinoceros — First
attack of fever.
A FRICA is the greatest paradox the world has ever
seen. Once the most powerful of nations, now
the weakest; once learned beyond all her contempora-
ries, now sunken in densest ignorance. Here the
Pharaohs ruled over the greatest dynasty of ancient
times; here dwelt Sheba's illustrious Queen, and
Candace of Ethiopia; from the bosom of Africa came
the famed gold of Ophir, which gilded the magnificent
temple of Solomon. Here the infant Christ was
sheltered while the storm of Herod's jealous hatred
spent itself. Thence came the bearer of the Savior's
cross, and here sprang up some of the strongest
churches of apostolic times. Apollos, mighty in the
scriptures, powerful in argument; Augustine, Cyprian,
Tertullian, Dionysius, Clement, Athanasius are names
immortalized in the annals of Christianity — and they
belong to Africa.
But how is she fallen! Her candle-stick is re-
moved out of its place and she is left to grope amid the
Dark Continent. 21
ruins of her former greatness. Failing to use her Ggg-
given opportunity, it is taken away and given to an-
other. The light that was in her has become darkness,
and behold, how great is that darkness !
Long has she lain a heap of ruins, a by- word
among the nations, though greatest of all. She shall
yet, however, furnish jewels to beautify a better temple
than Solomon's. Black though she be as the tents of
Kedar, for the sun hath looked upon her, yet comely
as the curtains of Solomon she shall be in that day
when she looks upon the Sun of Righteousness. Spoiled
now and defrauded of her rights through the selfish-
ness of her brothers, she too, shall enter in and partake
of the root and fatness of the olive tree of God's rich
bounty. Like the lame man lying at the beautiful
gate of the temple, passed and repassed daily by multi-
tudes going in and out to enjoy and participate in the
splendid service, yet unable himself to join the busy
throng, so Africa lies a helpless giant in the track of
the nations, huge, yet impotent.
Round her borders flow the commerce of the rich,
the gay and the powerful nations of the world. She
is being spoiled of her jewels and gold, debauched and
stupefied by their vile potions, stripped of honor, a spec-
22 Sketches from the
tacle of woe ! Who shall say, ' ' in the name of Jesus
Christ, rise up and walk ? ' '
The day is fast approaching, however, when the
Dark Continent shall become ' 'light in the Lord. * ' Open
doors are being multiplied ; barriers, hitherto insur-
mountable, are being broken down or overcome ; facili-
ties are increasing with astounding rapidity.
It will be many a day yet, before the old and oft-
times cruel method of traveling by caravan will be
done away, if indeed it ever is entirely. But in the in-
creasing number of railways being built from every
direction into the interior, we read the prophecy of
better things ; we see the vision of a redeemed conti-
nent.
When our party entered East Central Africa from
Mombasa in 1895, there was no sign of the railway
which is now being pushed rapidly forward by the
English Government and completed for over 400 miles,
so we had to resort to the old method of travelling by
caravan. Swimming the streams, wading the swamps,
blistered by the tropical sun to-day, drenched by the
rain tomorrow, in danger from savage men and attacked
by wild beasts, winding along the narrow tortuous
native paths, single file, until feet are like lead, heads
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Dark Continent. 23
drooping, tongues swollen, eyes painful — here the
romance of missionary life loses its fine outline in the
dead level of actual life.
Nowhere in the world can such an interesting ag-
gregation of individuals be found as in an ordinary
African caravan, and nothing in the world is more fas-
cinating than such a caravan on the march. From the
head-man down to the meanest porter — and some of
them it must be confessed are pretty mean — they rivet
your attention. Their moods are as fitful as the play
of cloud and sunshine upon the placid bosom of a
mountain lake and follow each other just as rapidly.
The porters themselves are unusually rollicking,
good-natured fellows, unless it be the first day or two
when they are getting adjusted to their burdens, and
then they grumble right heartily. Yet one cannot but
admire the ease with which they take up their loads of
65 lbs., besides the accessories of food and personal
" kit " which often brings the weight up to 90 lbs. or
more, and swing off with them day after day, in sun-
shine and rain for months perhaps, at the rate of from
ten to fifteen miles a day.
A pathetic interest centres about these black fel-
lows which, despite their many faults, gets hold of one's
heart by a hundred tendrils of affection.
24 Sketches from the
Given enough to eat they will endure almost any
amount of hardship. For long years these black men
have been bearing the white man's burdens through
malarious swamp and over desert sands, till the caravan
routes might almost be traced by the trail of bones
they have left. 'Tis a ghastly but eloquent testimony
to a body of unrequited, unremembered heroes.
I say this despite the heartaches they have caused
me and the serious inconvenience as well as pecuniary
losses I have sustained through their duplicity. Des-
ertion is the great bugbear of every caravan leader.
Few caravans go into the interior without some defec-
tions of this sort, consequently provision is always made
for such an event. Since the porter has little to lose
and much to gain by the act, it is little wonder he
watches his opportunity, drops his load, steals into the
bush and in a few minutes is beyond the possibility of
capture. Three months pay, a suit of clothes, and a
blanket or two have been paid him in advance accord-
ing to law. The caravan leader has no means of
apprehending him among the ever changing multitudes
of the coast town, so he changes his name, signs with
another caravan, and perhaps remains with that one
through thick and thin, just because the mood strikes
Dark Continent. 25
liim that way. Sometimes, indeed, he takes his load
with him, but not often, for this greatly multiplies the
chances of his apprehension.
Coming up from the coast on one occasion I had
an experience which is typical of this sort of thing. I
with a companion had pushed on ahead of the caravan
in order to get to camp, and if possible, to get some
game for the men by the time they got in. It had
been a long, hard tramp, and we were pretty thoroughly
tired out when we got to the camping place, but not-
withstanding this we set out across the hills for
game, our thought being centered upon surprising the
men w r hen they came in. I succeeded in bringing
down a fine large zebra which I left a couple of men
to cut up while we returned to camp, expecting to find
tents all up and lunch ready. But nothing of the sort
happened. Instead, late in the afternoon one came in
to say that six men had deserted, leaving their loads
by the path. Men were told off to go back for these,
but before they got away one of my faithful "askeri"
(guards) came in with the startling information that
uo less than fourteen had taken French leave.
Finally getting enough of those already in to go
back with me, I set out to hunt up the loads. One
26 Sketches from the
has to experience it to appreciate what it means to ask
jaded, weary men, who have already borne their heavy
loads at least fifteen miles, to go back three or four
miles to bring other loads. But such is life in Africa.
About eight o'clock that night I dragged myself into
camp, helped to put up the tents which had just
arrived, got some supper, and then ministered to a
companion who had come down with the fever.
We were only half way to our destination, so I had
to leave seventeen loads at this camp in charge of our
trusty head-man while we pushed on to the end and
then sent back men to bring the extra loads in.
This record of caravan life would be incomplete
without some mention of the ' ' boys ' ' or personal
attendants. These are as invaluable on the march as
they are necessary in camp, and indispensable on the
station. On the march they look like walking junk
shops. Over one shoulder is the strap bearing your
water-bottle or canteen; over the other your field
glasses; on his head — over his own fez cap of course,
is your extra hat — helmet or tarai, according to the
weather. If you have a camera, this is tied on some-
where, and your extra gun — rifle or shot gun — usually
completes his novel toilet.
Dark Continent. 27
Arrived in camp they put up your cot in the tent,
open your boxes and take out the necessary camping
requisites, and spread them out in orderly confusion
for your use. Then they busy themselves assisting
the cook — who meantime has a fire started and kettle
boiling — to get the lunch, for which your long tramp
has splendidly fitted you.
In the afternoon, if you have any washing they
take it down to the stream, and soon the "slap, slap,
chuck, chuck," as they pound your garments on the
rocks tell you that they are getting the dirt out and
alas! the holes in, for this sort of treatment is not con-
ducive to longevity in linen.
Meanwhile refreshed by a bath, and strengthened
by food, you seat yourself to write up your diary, or
pen the anxiously awaited message to the loved home-
circle. But sometimes, yea, not infrequently, this
order of events is rudely disturbed. You arrive in
camp, footsore and jaded, only to wait — it may be in
the burning sun, perhaps in a drenching rain or equally
trying drizzle — for an hour or so until the particular
porter carrying the tent makes his appearance. Or,
perchance, ravenously hungry, and weak from sheer
weariness, you are compelled to wait because your
28 Sketches from the
"chop box" is away back at the other end of the long
line that crawls like a huge serpent across the plains
and into camp. But in the evening, when the warm
glow of many camp-fires lights up the thick darkness,
around each fire a group of laughing, careless black
forms silhouetted against the darkness, recounting the
incidents of the day with rare faithfulness to the
minutest detail, while they watch the puttering, steam-
ing pot of beans; the trees reflecting weird forms in the
lurid light; while from out that mysterious darkness
there falls upon your ears the chattering of the apes,
the dismal howl of the hyena, the deep hoarse growl
or magnificent roar of the king of beasts, the weariness
of the long tramp of to-day and the dread of tomorrow
are forgotten in the fascination of the scene.
The very uncertainty that attaches itself to life in
these wilds, has its compensation, in that it drives you
to greater reliance upon the guardianship of Him who
neither slumbers nor sleeps, but is an unfailing refuge
in every hour of need. How often we proved Him
true in those days of weary marching and nights of
danger !
The second night we stood guard from one o'clock
until morning expecting every moment to be attacked
Dark Continent. 29
by hostile natives whose spies could be seen skulking
in the bushes around us, and from that time on we
were in constant danger from one source or another.
One night we were startled from our sleep by one
of our askari thrusting his head in the flap of our tent
and yelling "Simba ! Simba ! Bwana !" (a lion, a lion,
master, ) We rushed out, and in the dim light of the flick-
ering camp-fires a scene of bewildering confusion greeted
us. All the porters were talking at once, gesticulat-
ing, and running about, and good reason they had!
A lion had sprung in from the nearby bush and torn
down a small tent that had sheltered two of the porters,
but frightened by the uproar that ensued, left his prey
and dashed back into the bush carrying the tent with
him. We returned to our tents, the men gathered
about the fire and chatted awhile, but soon the camp
was wrapped in slumber as though such things were
but a part of the ordinary routine of life.
One day we had tramped all the morning in a
drenching rain. There was no road, and the pouring
rain made all the paths look alike. We had been
trudging along, feet wet and seeming as heavy as lead,
and on the whole presenting a sorry, bedraggled
appearance, when, as we came over a slight eminence,
30 Sketches from the
our guide stopped suddenly, pointed to three huge
rhinoceroses about ioo yards away and yelled "piga!
piga ! ' ' (shoot ! shoot ! ) There were two of us at the head
of the caravan at this time, and neither of us had had any
experience with such large game, so we were rather
uncertain of ourselves, but getting behind a tree we
fired, and had the satisfaction of seeing the largest of
the three fall flat in her tracks. The other two ran
round and round the carcase, but a few shots sent
them off.
An indescribable scene followed! In less time
than it takes to tell it, a score of carriers had
dropped their loads, a score of knives were out, and
forty arms and forty legs were mingled in wild confus-
ion round the huge carcase, while from more than a
score of throats the most unearthly yells emanated.
Slashing, pulling, tearing, yelling, they cut away until
naught remained but a few bones. The most disgust-
ing scenes ensued, as the men fairly fought over the
cast off portions ! Then tying their gory treasure to
their backs, or upon their loads, they resumed the
march, not however, without some murmurings, for
they would fain have pitched camp at once and de-
Dapk Continent. 31
voured the meat, utterly oblivious to the fact that there
was no water for miles around.
This peculiarly African habit of living entirely in
the present, without regard to future contingencies,
brings the native into endless difficulties, and makes
not a little trouble for the leader of the caravan.
He not only does not take "anxious" thought for
the morrow, but takes no thought at all, hence famine,
starvation, ruin, death, are the result.
When we were camped on the edge of Taru desert,
intending to start across its waterless expanse in the
evening, in order that the men should not surfer so
much from lack of water, a government official with
an ox train passed our camp on his way to the coast. He
startled us with the declaration that there was no
water nearer than four days march ahead. His state-
ment was strikingly verified, when one of his oxen
dropped dead before our eyes, and those remaining
could scarcely move along! He had started with
thirty-two and but eleven were living after that feartui
passage.
Filling every available vessel with the precious
fluid, we started before sunset on the hazardous
journey. The men were gay and light-hearted and
32 Sketches from the
started out merrily as though on a holiday jaunt.
Every mile, however, made its seriousness more ap-
parent as we came upon the remains of the unfortunate
bullocks. Night came on and then fifty or more "Wa
Teita" who were with the caravan, began building
fires beside the path and feasting on the dead cattle.
It was a weird, unearthly sight — the fires amid the
jungle scrub, with the native black figures around
them talking, laughing, yelling, in utter abandon
of spirits.
The Swahilis plodded on however, but after a
w T hile the laughing died away, the merry badinage
ceased, and silently the long line crept on in the dark-
ness. There was something awful about this slow
moving line of black men in the night upon the desert.
The scrubby thorn bush on either side was filled with
imaginary terrors, and some that were not so imaginary.
The men with their various shaped burdens were like
dim specters.
After a few hours they began to lie down in the
path, and with heads upon their loads fell fast asleep.
Before ten o'clock we were busy, and were kept so
until near midnight rousing the sleepers, lifting the
burdens to their heads and urging them on, but only
Dark Continent. 33
to find them in a few minutes again calmly sleeping,
utterly regardless of the fact that life and death hung
upon their going on.
At midnight a halt was called, but it was two
o'clock before the last stragglers dragged themselves in
and lay down for a little rest. But, oh joy! as we lay
there, nothing under us but a ground sheet, nothing
over us but our mackintoshes, it began to rain. Too
exhausted to get up, too thankful to murmur, we lay
still and praised God.
Starting again at 4 A. M. we reached Mt. Maungu
at 10, and there, to our delight, high up on the top, in
the hollows of the rocks, we found the precious rain
gathered for us, and we camped with feelings akin to
those that moved Isral at Elim.
One day we came suddenly upon a mother rhino
and her baby. She stood perhaps a hundred yards
away and probably did not see us, for though keen of
scent and hearing, these great beasts are very short-
sighted, but hearing the noise she stood sniffing the
air. John, our worthy cook, happened to be carrying
a shot-gun belonging to one of the party. He calmly
knelt and was about to fire when we stopped him, for
it would certainly have goaded the huge beast to
34 SKETCHES FROM THE
desperation to have been peppered with small shot.
Finally, with head up, and snorting as only a rhino
can, she dashed for us. None of us had our rifles in
our hands, for all were pretty well used up, two having
had fever the night before, and the rest were destined
to have it yet that day. There was the sound of fall-
ing boxes as the men dropped their loads and dashed
for the scrubby trees around. But fortunately the
animal did not keep her course in the line; if she had,
some one would have been hurt or killed. But she
swerved and went down the line parallel with the
caravan. The askari recovered themselves, opened
fire and after firing some fifty or more rounds, succeeded
in bringing her down.
This day was really the end of the long tramp in
quest of service for the Master. We had no sooner
arrived in camp when one after another of the entire
party of five, stretched themselves out, helpless, in the
grip of Africa's great scourge-fever. For a week w T e
lay there, our beds old mother earth, our springs a bit
of grass, the stronger ministering to the weaker — but
we were happy, for we were in God's will, and there
is no sweeter place in all the wide world than that.
Dark Continent. 35
We were on the edge of our promised land. As
we lay there, for the first time we looked into the faces
of those for whom we had left home and all the hal-
lowed associations which cluster about that word. But
Christ had said, "other sheep I have," and these were
some of them. Bruised and torn through long wander-
ing, crippled in moral character, seared in conscience,
will power paralyzed, they were yet sheep for whom
the good Shepherd had given His life, and they must
be sought out, informed of His love and brought, as
many as would, into the fold.
36 Sketches from the
CHAPTER II.
Character of natives — Masai — A journey across the plains — A
village; manner of living, and result in character of people-
Appearance of people — Marriage — Slavery — Cultivation of soil
— An African burial — Who cares !
THE natives of East Central Africa, though broken
up into many tribes each speaking a dialect so dif-
ferent as not to be understood by members of the tribe
immediately contiguous to it, and varying somewhat
even in facial appearance, are yet so nearly akin in
most respects as to make the description of one suSce
largely for all.
They belong to the great and powerful Bantu
family which comprises practically all the tribes in the
central portion of Africa from about two degrees N.
latitude to the Cape. There are some exceptions to
this rule, however, as in the case of the Masai and the
Somali or Galla, of Eastern Africa.
The former are, or have been, for their power is
largely broken of recent years, the terror of East Cen-
tral Africa. Having nothing in common with the
tribes about them, either in language, habits, or per-
sonal appearance, they might well be called the
Ishmaels of East Africa. Their hand is against eve r v
Dark Continent. 37
man and every man's hand against them. Many a
time as we have been traveling over the plains, has
my head-man pointed to a number of sculls and uttered
the significant word "Masai," and then gone on to tell
about the stirring days not long past when these
terrible warriors would swoop down upon them, and
battles would be fought, in which sometimes they, and
sometimes their enemies would be worsted. If the
former their cattle were driven off, and wives and little
ones enslaved.
How they came there and where they came from
is a mystery to which future historians will doubtless
give us an authorative answer.
But our narrative has to do largely with the
Wakamba, who are a part of the great Bantu family.
They number something like 300,000, or did at least,
until the recent awful famine wrought such havoc in
their midst. They are a pastoral rather than a warlike
people, having large herds of cattle and flocks of goats,
with a few sheep which, by the way, are covered with
hair instead of wool.
The country is mountainous, with a beauty all its
own, but incomplete owing to the scarcity of timber.
Here is a record of one of my journeys to Kikuyu
38 Sketches from the
in auest of food, which may be taken as quite repre-
sentative of the general physical features of the country.
"It is a wonderfully fascinating trip, for in spite of the
weariness incident upon such a tramp, there is always
something to interest one, The plain that we travel,
is like a vast amphitheatre, forty- five miles wide and
at least sixty miles long. The whole vast expanse is
encircled by lofty mountains, while two or three stand
out in lonely exile right in the midst of the plain.
There is Koma Rock, a great, bare, jagged wart on the
face of the plain, rising several hundred feet out of the
level.
But more fascinating still, is old Donyu Sabbuk,
w T hich towers up to the majestic height of 6900 feet.
This was formerly a rendezvous of the dreaded Masai
in the days when they struck terror to the hearts of all
the tribes from here to Victoria Nyanza.
High up on his rugged side they established them-
selves, and then, watching as an eagle from her lofty
perch, swooped down upon the Wakamba on one side
and the Wakikuyu on the other.
But not the least interesting sight is the snow-
crowned summit of Mt. Kenia, visible seventy miles to
northward. The mountain has the appearance of a
C3
o
C
P3
C3
u
>
C3
z
Dark Continent. 39
magnificent arch, rising above the clouds, from the
centre of which arch two glittering columns shoot up
to an altitude of more than 19,000 feet. My native
friends have not the remotest idea what that white
thing is, some thinking that it must be a kind of white
pigment such as they use in decorating themselves;
others hold to the opinion that it is like wood ashes.
There are no ruling chiefs, the government being
vested in the elders, who are called together to discuss
matters of interest to the district in which they live.
There are of course those, who by reason of special
fitness to command, and bravery in leading in the
frequent raids, gain more or less of ascendency, and
are recognized as leaders.
The villages are for the most part family arrange-
ments; a father with his married sons settling together
for mutual helpfulness and defense. Go with me into
one of these villages; you enter through a narrow,
tortuous passageway, lined on either side by thorn
bush; at the farther end is a sort of gateway or low
narrow opening, which at night is closed up by piling
thorn bush against it. Crawling through this opening,
you find yourself in an open space varying from 20 to
30 feet in diameter, enclosed by a thorn "boma"
40 Sketches from the
(hedge) as a protection from wild beasts. Tnis is the
cattle "Kraal" at night, and at the far side is the
manure heap. Along one side of the kraal, and open-
ing upon it are the living-huts, while back of these are
smaller huts used for storing grain and other food sup-
plies. These living-huts are circular in form, shaped
like a bee-hive, built of grass thatch over a framework
of slender sticks. The only opening in the hut is a
little hole two and one-half feet high by one and one-
half feet wide, and into this you must crawl on your
hands and knees. You cannot stand erect except in
the centre, so you squat on one of the low seats a few
inches high and look about you.
When your eyes have become accustomed to the
semi-darkness, and your nostrils to the almost over-
powering stench, an indescribable scene greets 3 t ou;
Your first feeling must be one of wonder, that in the
blaze of this 20th century, human beings could yet be
found living in such a state as this. It ought not to
be so; it would not have been so if the Church had
been true to her Lord; and it will not long remain so,
if we through repentant tears for our past neglect, look
into His dear face and Drotnise that we will be true
henceforth.
Dark Continent. 41
On one side is the wood used for cooking purposes
piled high in preparation for the rainy season. In the
centre are three stones upon which an earthen pot, the
only cooking utensil, sits above the fire; while on the
floor amid the refuse and filth are calabashes of various
sizes, which serve for plate and cup alike. Sometimes ,
these are washed. Do you want something to eat ?
The woman picks one up, brushes the dirt out with her
knuckles, and it is ready for use.
The beds are along the sides of the hut, and are
made by binding slender sticks together and fastening
these to props about two feet from the ground, for, of
course, there is no floor in the hut save mother earth.
Under this rude bed is usually a young calf tied, or a
big goat or sheep fattening for a feast, and almost
always a lot of little kids or lambs frisking about at
will.
But that you may understand more clearly the
manner of life of these wretched people, let me say
that I have, upon being called to minister to their sick
at night, counted as many as eleven persons and seven-
teen goats and sheep huddled together in huts fifteen
feet in diameter.
Is it any wonder, think you, that living thus for
42 SKETCHES FROM THE
generations with their beasts, the beast has actually
gained the ascendency in their nature ? that they have
become beastly in thought, in speech, yea, in very
appearance ? For in Africa as well as America, a man
becomes like his habitual associates, whether these be
men or thoughts. Think lofty thoughts, pure thoughts,
ana divinity will shine out of your countenance; dwell
upon the low, the mean, the vile, and the beast will
leap forth and show himself in brutalized countenance
and vicious life. But thank God ! there is a stronger
than the strong man: the gospel is still the power of
God unto salvation to every one that believeth — even
though that one be a beastly African.
The Wakamba are of average height, black, but
not quite so negroid in appearance as are the natives
of the West Coast. The men wear absolutely no
clothing, the women only a small apron a few inches
square suspended from the lions by a thong of leather.
The former deck themselves out by twisting brass or
copper wire about the arms and legs; the latter with
hundreds of strings of beads about the neck and waist.
The body is smeared with red clay and grease, and
the hair is carefully shaved off even to the evebrows,
eye-lashes pulled out, ears pierced and hole gradually
C
T3
C
C3
E
Dark Continent. 43
enlarged, until I have frequently seen them pick up a
tin can on the station and insert it in the ear-lobe and
use the can as a pocket in which to carry their trink-
ets. To make the hideous toilet complete, the teeth
are filed to a sharp point, as sharp as the prongs of a
fork.
Marriage is a mere matter of barter, and polygamy
is universal. A man's social position and influence in
the tribe depends largely upon the number of wives
he has, consequently his aim is to have as many as
possible. This is because wives are an index of wealth,
for a wife costs among the Wakamba from forty to
sixty goats, a goat being the standard of value in a
country where money is unknown. The man thinks
just as much of his wife as he does of the goats he
has paid for her, and no more. She is practically a
slave, a beast of burden, reckoned as just so much
"Mali" (property.)
She it is who thatches the huts, cultivates the
fields — her only farming implement a straight stick
two and one-half feet long sharpened at the end; with
this she laboriously digs up the ground. She goes
long distances, chops down trees with little miniature
44 Sketches from the
axes, and carries the wood in great staggering loaas to
the villages.
Slavery — I mean the hideous traffic Livingston
saw — the traffic which once deluged Africa with blood,
and sowed her plains with human bones — that slavery
practically ceased to exist when England in 1897 abol-
ished the legal status of slavery in her protectorate of
Zanzibar. In Zanzibar, on the spot where once stood
the greatest slave market in the world, there now
stands the magnificent Cathedral of the Universities
Mission, built entirely by natives, under the direction
of Bishop Steere.
On the adjoining Island of Pemba, to within the
last decade a favorite rendezvous of slaves owing to its
numerous little bays and inlets, which enabled them
to escape the vigilance of English men-of-war, there is
now a strong Industrial Mission of English Friends,
seeking to bring the gospel to these newly created
freedmen. Nevertheless there is a form of slavery still
remaining, and which it will be difficult to put down
entirely, though the end is sure to come in due time.
This is what is sometimes termed " domestic slavery."
In this case it is not Arabs who are the captors, but
the natives themselves.
Dark Continent. 45
In their frequent inter-tribal wars, women and
children are captured and enslaved. Their position as
slaves may not be any worse in a physical sense than
it would be in their own tribe, but in dealing with
slavery, we judge not by the occasional best, nor yet
by the occasional worst in it, but by the tendency of the
system as a whole, and judged by that standard, the
civilized world has passed the death-sentence upon
slavery as an institution.
I have had the privilege of rescuing some of these
unfortunates and restoring them to their tribes. The
presence of missionaries will do much to stamp out the
last vestige of this demoralizing traffic.
The soil varies greatly in different localities, but
on the whole the country is exceedingly fertile. There
are considerable stretches of red clay which is of little
value for cultivation but which supports a sparse
growth of mimosa thorn and a more or less dense scrub.
Then too, there are vast areas covered with lava —
sometimes immense beds cropping out of the ground,,
again the plains littered for miles with the debris re-
sulting from some mighty convulsion of nature in the
dim past.
But by far the greater portion of the country is of
46 Sketches from the
a rich dark sandy loam, easily tilled and of great
fertility. And there are such vast tracts entirely un-
occupied that the natives having exhausted the strength
of a given portion by raising two crops per year with
but the merest trifle of an effort at fertilizing, simply
leave it and take up another plot.
On my station I found no difficulty in raising two
crops a year, of wheat, potatoes, corn and every variety
of vegetable. Besides tropical fruits, as oranges, bana-
nas and figs, such fruits as peaches, apricots, pears
and plums can be grown to advantage.
What do the natives grow ? Millet, three var-
ieties, beans — on bushes from six to eight feet high —
corn, sweet potatoes and squash. Sugar-cane, manioc
or cassava — from which our tapioca is obtained — and
bananas are also cultivated in different localities. The
sugar-cane and bananas are almost all converted into
1 ' tembo ' ' the native intoxicant.
It is a peculiar and suggestive fact that the young
men do not drink; not until after they are married do
they indulge in (< tembo," and then it is usually the old
men who become intoxicated.
It will readily be seen from the foregoing that
there is little chance for the developement of the finer
Dark Continent. 47
sensibilities of the nature. Love is crushed almost out
of existence in the choking atmosphere of moral putre-
faction, and throttled to death in the grip of physical
degradation. Where a father can sell his daughter to
the highest bidder — or worse still, rent her out to
shame by the day or week or month as his cupidity
may determine, you do not look for the fragrance of
genuine affection. I thought I saw it once, just a
glimmer — a suggestion — but I was disappointed.
Mutu Nyaa came to tell me that his daughter was
dead. I went to the village; no one about; sat down
on a log to await developments. A little, chubby,
dirty child toddled across the open court, and looked
curiously into a ragged shallow hole on the edge of the
manure heap. The father crawled out of another hut:
he had hold of something which proved to be the
naked body of his dead daughter. He pulled it out
of the little hut, and dragged it across to the hole and
flung it down. Stooping down he unclasped all her
little ornaments, then he selected the best and placed
them in the little hand, and closed the lifeless fingers
over them, saying "here are your ornaments, take
them with you." He went through some incantations
with the witch-doctor, leaving the child clasping the
4S Sketches from the
precious treasures. Stooping down again, he un-
clasped the fingers, slyly extracted the ornaments,
closed the fingers over the empty palm as though still
grasping the treasures, picked the body up by one arm.
threw it into the narrow hole all doubled up, covered
it with dirt and manure, and the burial was complete.
Shocking? Yes, but even this was far in advance
of the usual proceeding. In nine cases out of ten the
bodies are not buried at all. A short shrift into the
bush, at night a horrid carnival of wild beasts, in the
morning a few scattered bones, and — oblivion! Who
cares ? Do you ? How much ? Just so much as you
are willing to give to deliver them from such a frightful
end, and no more!
Dark Continent. 49
CHAPTER III.
Africa's oppression and its result — A hostile demonstration
thwarted — What shall be done with the white man? — An
edict — God's ravens — Missionary duties — Necessity for med-
ical work — Surrounded by hostile natives — Policy of non-
resistance — Coals of fire — A missionary foot-race.
A FRICA'S history is one long record of war and
carnage, rapine and murder, horrid superstition
and frightful abomination. Like the angry waves of a
storm-tossed sea, her multitudes, goaded on by lust
and greed throw themselves against each other, fall,
rise up again, and come back to the fratricidal strife!
Tribe arra}^ed against tribe, the conflict goes on: the
weaker crushed out of existence or assimilated with
the stronger. Backward and forward the surges of
conflict roll, and with each ebb of the fearful tide the
wreckage is visible. Melancholy sight! slaughtered
manhood; enslaved womanhood; blighted childhood;
burned villages; ruined fields; charred and blackened
valleys where once was peace and plent}'!
But if there is restlessness and strife within, there
is also fear and trouble from without. Where the
carcase is, there will be the vultures. Africa has her
vultures. Unscrupulous traders, corrupt officials —
50 Sketches from the
though, thank God, there are some notable exceptions
— and Arab slave dealers hover over the devoted land,
and fatten upon her helplessness.
But the day of reckoning comes sometime, the
hour of j udgement strikes when the cup of iniquity is
full, and then the lean kine devour the fat ones, and
the blasted ears swallow the full ones. The news-
papers call it a massacre, but it may be only the turn-
ing of the worm when it is trodden upon too heavily.
'Tis the history of America's injustice toward the
Indians — it will be, yea, already is, the story of much
European encroachment on Africa.
In consequence of this, the messenger of Christ
upon entering a new field here, must reckon upon
these new and perhaps intenser hates and animosities
that have been engendered and fostered by the brutal
and shameful conduct of these leeches of humanity
which have been sucking the natives' life blood.
These meet us with outstretched hands, but the
hands bear a spear, bow and arrow, or rifle. Unable
at first to discriminate even between an Arab and a
European — they put all alike under the ban of hatred
on general principles, and only after years of patient,
Dark Continent. 51
toilsome effort, is their suspicion of the missionary
overcome.
So it is not surprising that my first months in
Africa were troublous ones. My life was in constant
jeopardy. But " if God be for us, who can be against
us ? " The heathen raged, the people imagined vain
things; they took counsel together, but God was over
all, controlling, shaping, directing events to His own
glory.
Three months after our arrival in the interior
found me twenty miles from any companions, with two
Swahili native workmen and a boy. The natives
supposing me to be a Government official thought that
I would have soldiers with me directly, but as time
elapsed and these did not appear, they began to take
steps toward my removal.
Councils were held to discuss the best means of
ridding them of the white man. One day a band of
men came from a distance expressly to kill me, but
were stopped about half a mile away, by some natives
who, having been to the government post and seen the
great power represented there, and being awed by it,
prevailed upon them to give up their project for the
time being.
52 Sketches from the
Finally an extended Dalaver was held on the hill-
side a few hundred yards from my hut. All day long
these black men discussed the problem of getting rid
of me. 'Twas an interesting sight. Have you ever
watched a crowd who were passing sentence of death
upon you ? I would watch them a little while, then go
into the hut and lay the matter before my blessed Lord.
About four o'clock in the evening a deputation of
seven were sent to inform me of the decision. They
solemnly squatted before me, and as solemnly stated
that they had decided to give me three days to get out.
If I remained there they would kill me and burn down
the station. I sent word back that I was there to tell
them about God and I intended to stay; they would
find me at the end of three days if they wanted me.
Throughout this time they threatened all manner of
things, but did not resort to actual violence. Seeing
that they did not frighten me, they resorted to the
plan of starving me out, issuing an order that any one
found bringing food to me was to be put to death.
For over a month this was rigidly enforced.
But mark the hand of God. It would have fared
ill with me, had it not been for a divine supply to meet
my need. An old woman frequently passed my hut
-a
c
>>
Dark Continent. 53
going to and from her work in the fields. I had seen
her but two or three times. But every time she passed
she managed in some way to drop a root of cassava in
the path before my door. This I roasted and it enabled
me to eke out my slender supply of provision through
this trying period.
What was it that prompted this old heathen
woman under penalty of death if caught, to drop that
food before the despised and then hated white man's
door ? The very same power that caused the ravens
to bring the meat to the famished prophet by the brook
Cherith.
Is God changed? Depend upon it, He has His
ravens for every Cherith still. Hast thou stood for
Him when the crowd was against thee ? Be sure He
will not fail thee. " Commit thy way unto the Lord,
trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass."
Finally convinced that I had come to stay, and
perhaps judging from the fact that my little force of
three native helpers was not augmented, and there was
no parade of arms, that I was a harmless sort of being,
they submitted to the inevitable, came to me and said
that if I would remove across the river a few hundred
yards away, I might stay. I met them thus far and
54 Sketches from the
removed. And significantly enough on the very spot
where sometime before the palaver was held which
condemmed me to death, I began the erection of build-
ings for permanent occupancy.
My duties at this time, and indeed thereafter, were
of a varied nature. There were two languages to
learn, one of which had to be reduced to writing;
there were buildings to erect, and for helpers in this
I had, as before stated, but two Swahili men. My
dwelling was built of sun-dried brick. Together we
labored in making them, I taking my turn in digging
clay, the}' puddling it with their feet, and then mould-
ing a single brick at a time. It was a happy moment,
when having laid every brick myself, I saw the house
fifteen by thirty feet, with two rooms, stand complete
before me. Then there was medical work — crude it is
true, owing to limited knowledge, but effective, and
indicative of the wonderful results that might accrue
from this branch of mission work in the hand of a
thoroughly qualified medical missionary.
Sores, sores, sores, everywhere the revolting sight
meets you, everywhere the frightful stench assails you!
Poor, limping, rotting, suffering humanity ! May the
great Physician in healing thy soul sickness, restore to
Dark Continent. 55
thee thy birthright of physical wholeness ! For is
there not a vital relationship existing between the
two, the one operating upon the other ?
Gardening, cooking, — until my native boys were
initiated — and sewing, complete the list. This latter
was no small task to manly fingers; for the transition
from brickmaking or farming to shirt making was
rather sudden, and not at all calculated to relieve
the blunderer's fingers of a certain mild kind of torture,
nor to add beauty and grace to the garments. But the
w T earers for the most part having never worn clothing
before were not critical.
Candles served me for light, and when these failed,
as they did sometimes, I would lie dowm on the floor
before the blazing wood fire, and do my writing or
studying of the language. The nights — however
hot the days may be — are always cool, for though
a degree and a half south of the Equator, the altitude
is such — between four thousand and five thousand
feet — that a cool breeze greatly tempers the heat.
The temperature varies greatly. At night it will fall
as low as forty-five degrees, and by day, rise as high
as one hundred and fifty degrees in the sun. This, of
course, has its disadvantages, and necessitates great
55 Sketches from the
carefulness to guard against sickness. But by observ-
ing proper precautions, this danger can be reduced to
a minimum. Over thirty times I was stricken with
the fever, and being much of the time alone, had to
minister to my own needs. As for food, my boy
would build a fire beside my bed, and I would then
direct the preparation of it. Yet despite all this, those
were the richest experiences of my life. In them I
found that the sweetest place in all the world is the will
of God. And since He wills naught but our good,
surely it is the part of wisdom to discover that will,
and make it life's supreme business to do it.
But still, in spite of every endeavor at conciliation,
in the face of the scores who had come to the station
in almost every stage of this loathsome disease, and
been cured gratis, when I walked about, I saw dark,
scowling, suspicious faces, hatred stamped in every
lineament of the countenance, and hostile demonstra-
tions were frequent.
Day after day my men would be driven from their
work and would come running into the station, some-
times bruised from their encounters with the hostile
warriors.
Dark Continent. 57
Once they came in thus after I had sent them out
for some timber, I having gone with them in the first
instance and selected the timber I required. It was
some distance from any village, but I had taken the
precaution to seek, and had obtained the consent of the
villages nearest the place, to cut the timber.
I returned with the men, but no one was to be
seen. No sooner had we begun work however,
than we were surrounded by a band of natives, who
skulking from tree to tree, arrows fitted to the bow
strings, and swords in hand, threatened our lives.
The situation was critical, and I did something for
which I was ashamed at the time, and have been
increasingly so ever since. Having a revolver in my
pocket — a thing of rare occurrence — I drew it out,
opened it, and then in the sight of the angry mob,
took some cartridges from another pocket, filled the
chambers slowly and deliberately, closed the weapon
and then returned it to my pocket. All this without
saying a word. But the act seemed sufficient, for there
was a hasty consultation among our foes, and then
they suddenly withdrew. Why I did this I cannot
tell, because I am strictly opposed to the use of fire-
arms to quell disturbances of the natives, both from
58 Sketches from the
motives of principle and expediency. It is contrary to
the Spirit of Christ, and that ought to be sufficient for
any one who follows Him.
The greatest blunders of Christendom, are those
in which the church — Peter like — has taken up arms
in defense of her "rights."
What a sad and humiliating travesty on the gospel,
whose every line breathes a sweet benediction of peace
upon the restless tossings of men and nations, when
through a mistaken zeal, the followers of the lowly,
unresisting Christ, fight, and kill, and devour, in the
effort to extend His kingdom ! It results only in
somebody's ear being cut off, and the sorrowing
Savior, lamenting the inability of His disciples to catch
the real meaning of His mission, has to mend the
injury to prove that His is not a temporal kingdom
sustained by brute force, but righteousness, peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost — peace, lasting as the eternal
hills, because based upon righteousness; and joy un-
speakable and full of glory, because the overflow of
hearts at peace with God and with men.
But patient continuance in well doing, eventually
had its effect. Still the old opposition died hard. One
morning I was attending to the long line of suffering
Dark Continent. 59
ones; the last one had been reached, and I was binding
up her foot, a huge ulcer having eaten away half the
upper portion to the bone.
Occupied with my task, I did not notice the
approach of my boy, Vui, until I heard him say,
"Bwana nimepiga Mkamba." (Master, I have hit a
Mkamba.) Finishing my work I looked up, and, used
as I was to scenes of blood, I gave an involuntary
shudder at the sight of the lad. A ragged, gaping
wound in his head, fully three inches long, was pour-
ing a stream of blood down over his face, and his shirt
and loin cloth were already crimson.
He had said nothing about his having been hurt
himself, so I said, " what is the matter, Vui ? who has
done this ? " "I went to the river to get some water, ' '
said he, " when a man sprang upon me to kill me. I
beat him off with my club and cut his head, and he
broke his club over my head. ' ' And master," he con-
tinued, " there is a great crowd down there and they
are going to kill us all ! "
I had been only a few months among them, and
had not yet succeeded in breaking down their natural
suspicion against white men. At once it struck me
60 Sketches from the
that this incident might in some way be turned to
account for the Master, though I scarcely knew how.
So I said to Vui, " We will go down and see about
it." I went into the house and got a sponge with
which to wash his wound, and came out just as I
was, in my shirt sleeves, and started off. Vui looked
at me curiously, hesitated and then said, " Bwana
usimepata bunduki yaku?" (Master have you not
taken your rifle?) "No" said I, "we are here on
God's business, and He will take care of us, and we
will be safer anyway without the gun." At such
times I thought it much better to display no weapon,
for its very presence created suspicion, and was thus
an element of danger rather than safety.
Arriving at the river, which was about two hun-
dred yards away, sure enough the whole river-bed was
filled — there being no running water in it at the
time — with a howling mob of painted savages, armed
with bows and poisoned arrows, spears and short
swords. They were evidently bent on mischief. De-
cisive measures had to be taken, and that quickly.
So with a wordless prayer, I walked into the midst
of them, much to their astonishment. This was the
best course I could have pursued, for they have at first
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Dark Continent. 6i
a superstitious awe of a white man, not knowing but
that he has some unseen method of defending himself.
The leader of the band, who likewise had a huge
gash in his head from Vui's club, made a dash at him,
but springing between them I began talking to the
crowd, asking them if I had ever harmed them in any
way; if I had not paid them well for everything that
I had gotten from them; if I had not ministered to
their sick; if I had not show r ed them in many ways
that I w r as their friend.
Gradually they cooled down and became silent as
I talked, and when the arrows were taken from their
bows, and the hands quit playing with their swords, I
took Vui to a w T ater pool, cleansed his wound, and sent
him off down the river for water. Then to their
amazement, I took the wounded leader, pulled him to
the water-hole, and began to do the same w r ith him.
They could not understand it. " An eye for an eye "
yea, a life for a life, is the only law their poor minds
can grasp, and they rigidly adhere to it. That the
white man should take his worst enemy and do to him
the same kindness he had done for his own boy, was
so foreign to their ideas of justice that they simply
stood and looked in wonder.
62 Sketches from the
Having cleansed the wound thoroughly, and not-
ing the advantage I had gained, I followed it up by
saying: "now, if you will come to the house, I will
put on some medicine." Slowly they followed me up
the path, thoroughly vanquished. Getting out my
instruments, I shaved the head, sewed up the ragged
wound, bound it up carefully, and they went away.
From that day their attitude changed, the stubborn
opposition melted away, sufferers thronged the station,
and some of those who had been most troublesome
became my staunchest friends. Thereafter I could go
anywhere through that country unarmed, so far as
danger from the people was concerned.
11 Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt
love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, but I say
unto you, " Love your enemies, bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them
which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye
may be the children of your Father which is in heaven."
But before the natives went away, an event
occurred which shows the varied nature of a mission-
ary's duties. They were seated before me and I was
talking earnestly to them, when Bwewa came up
carrying a bucket of water for Vui — he being unable
Dark Continent. 63
to carry it owing to the cut in his head — such a thing
as carrying it by hand being undreamed of.
Bwewa had some scores to settle with the natives,
and he proceeded to settle them at once in a character-
istic fashion. With a yell he rushed to his little hut,
and presently emerged with a huge club in his hand.
Brandishing this above his head and yelling like a
mad-man, he dashed for the crowd of natives. They
sprang to their feet and fled in every direction, Bwewa
after them. I called to him to stop, but I might as
well have tried to stop a tornado with a word. He
would certainly kill some one if he were not stopped,
so I jumped up and started after him. It was a novel
foot race : first the fleeing natives, followed by the
yelling Bwewa swinging his club, and finally myself.
Down over the hill we went at full speed. I finally
succeeded in catching my man, and flinging my arms
about him, tried to talk to him. But there was no
reason in him : the more I talked the more he
struggled to free himself. So I made a virtue of
necessity, flung him on his back, sat on him, and
thus managed to get him subdued sufficiently to talk
with him. He gave me no further trouble after that.
64 Sketches from the
In the afternoon while I was working in the brick-
yard, the ring-leader of the morning's attack came to
the station with a bag of beans as a peace-offering.
He and Vui made up, and peace reigned between them.
Dark Continent. 65
CHAPTER IV.
A hostile district — An ungracious refusal— Healing of a child and
the result — An uncomfortable night — A novel wash-rag — How
a rhinoceros hunt helped the work of God.
C OMETIMES the Lord was pleased to use some slight
incident to break down the opposition or allay the
suspicion of my dusky neighbors. A small thing it
seemed to human judgment, but the small things weigh
much in the balances of African opinion.
There was one district through which it was nec-
essary for me to pass on my way to another station,
and the natives of this district for a long time mani-
fested a peculiar hatred and contempt for the white
man. I remember passing through on one occasion,
when I was suddenly stricken with an attack of the
fever. I kept up as long as I could, until my feet
refused to bear me longer, and I fell beside the path.
I observed a village near by and some natives squatting
outside. Slowly crawling up to them, I begged them
to permit me to lie in one of their huts out of the burn-
ing sun. But they contemptuously refused my pe-
tition, and I crawled under a thorn bush and lay there
for hours until the fever had spent itself, and then get
66 Sketches from the
up and moved on as fast as my weakness would permit.
But God had His purpose of love toward this people,
and in His own way brought about a complete change
in their attitude toward His servant.
It came about in this way: I was passing through
the district on another occasion, when I was called into
a village to see a sick child — a girl perhaps ten years
of age. You ask me why they were so interested in a
girl where womanhood is so fearfully debased, and I
must point out that a girl is cared for on about the
same principle as a man at home looks after his horse
or cow — she will bring so many goats when she comes
to marriageable age. It is to the interest of the father
to look after his daughters for this reason.
The child had a huge ulcer as large as the palm of
my hand, right on the stomach. It was a fearful look-
ing thing, and I hesitated to try to do anything
because it seemed to me it had gone so far that there
was little hope. And then I disliked to attempt it
with my very limited knowledge, for if there should
be failure, and the child should die, my position might
be made very much more dangerous than it was. But
they urged and entreated, and finally after prayerful
consideration, I undertook the case.
Dark Continent. 67
Somehow from the first the child seemed to trust
me, whether induced by the kindly manner in which I
went about it, as opposed to the rough, cruel practices
she had undergone at the hands of the witch-doctors
or not, I do not know ; but certain it is she was always
the first to greet me when I came thereafter to the
village. I carefully treated her, left some medicine to
apply daily until I should return, and went my way.
It was an experiment, and I was exceedingly doubtful
of the outcome, for natives have a peculiar habit of
judging, that if a little medicine does some good, much
will do more good, and give the whole in a single dose.
But the young father was above the average in intelli-
gence, so when I returned a few days later I found to
my great delight, that the child was much improved.
Again I left some medicine with instructions to the
father to come to my station in two weeks and get
more. Promptly to the day he appeared — ten miles
from his home — reporting improvement, and received
his medicine. This thing continued for nearly two
months when the healing of the child was completed.
From that time there was a radical change in their
attitude toward me. The children would run to meet
me far along the path, and the elders would beg me to
68 Sketches from the
stop with them over night, or at least partake with
them of their humble fare. This would not be con-
sidered very palatable at home, but here, wearied with
a long tramp, even the humblest fare is relished.
Sometimes it was beans without any seasoning, eaten
with the hand from a dirty calabash, again it was
1 ' udzu ' ' a sort of thick gruel made from rough millet-
meal and drank from the same dirty calabash, and
while I ate, the little ones, dressed in their birthday
clothes would stand around and smile and whisper
amongst themselves in thorough enjoyment of the
white man's presence.
But they were not satisfied until I consented to
spend a night with them. So I arranged to do so on
one of my trips. They were delighted when I arrived,
and plied me with food and honey. While I was sit-
ting in the hut talking with the young man and the
little girl, a big ram was pushed in through the little
opening which serves for a door, and after him crawled
an old man, the father of Ngongo, who solemnly pre-
sented the ram to me. I knew the native peculiarity,
so immediately called my men and instructed them to
kill the animal and prepare him for the feast. I almost
wished I hadn't before the night was over, for I did
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think they never would get enough and go to bed.
I spread my blankets on the rude pallet called a bed,
and about midnight was able to lie down. I insisted
upon their leaving the goats outside, but still there
were nine persons, several chickens and an innumerable
host of insects, and creeping things without number
to keep us company. Rats swarmed over me, they bit
my ears and fingers, and pulled my hair, and wound
up by eating holes in my blankets, as large as my
hand. So the weary night passed and the first glimpse
of returning day I hailed with delight.
Before leaving, the old man gave me a calabash
of honey. In dishing it out he got his hand smeared
with it, and then I saw a new idea in the line of wash
rags. His grand-daughter — my little girl patient — was
called, came up demurely, held her head down as
though it were a familiar operation, and in a trice
the offending honey was transferred to her woolly
head.
Another incident can best be told in the words of
a letter written at the time: "Last month's message
conveyed tidings of our difficulty with the natives
about the purchase of food. All this was overcome in
a very unique manner as you shall see. A peculiarity
70 Sketches from the
of the people which is sometimes amusing, is that they
are not at all averse to asking a favor of you, even
though they are at swords points with you. It hap-
pened that a couple of rhinoceroses had been commit-
ting depredations among the fields of the natives not
far away, trampling and destroying the crops, besides
being a menace to life itself. Accordingly a deputa-
tion waited upon me, begging me to go with a party
on a hunt. Friday the 3rd. inst., was the time set.
Meanwhile Bro. Tool came down with hematuric fever
on the 1 st. and on the night of the 2nd. came very
near death's door. Word had been sent postponing the
hunt, as the animal's haunts were about two miles
away, But our disposings are not always final.
Through many a strange and inexplicable event He
wakes our sluggish senses up to the fact that "His
ways are not our ways, neither are His thoughts our
thoughts." What would you think of a missionary
going hunting when a brother missionary lay sick nigh
unto death ? Yet that is just what I did. But let me
ask }'ou to suspend judgment until you have learned
the story. Such a course would ordinarily be termed
brutal and inhuman, but this was manifestly of
God's own ordering, that not onl3 r I, but every one
Dark Continent. 71
concerned might see His hand and give glory to Him
for a blessed deliverance. I find that one may even
shoot a rifle to the glory of God, and that such a small
matter as the killing of a rhinoceros may tend to the
advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom.
Early on Friday morning — having sat up all'
night — I called my men to worship, and had just set
them about their several tasks, when the stillness was
broken by a great yelling from the hillside just across
the river. We paid little attention to it, thinking it
was a drinking party, until Mutu Nyaa, our staunch
old friend, came running up, accompanied by a boy
crying out that the ' ' Mbuzya ' ' was j ust over the hill
yonder, (about half a mile away). Still wishing to
avoid going, I told him to run and make sure, sending
the boy back if it was so. He had not gone far, how-
ever, before it became plain that the crowd yonder was
looking for the ' ' white man ' ' and at their entreaty he
came back and then even Miss Lindburg, our nurse, in
spite of her woman's horror of hunting wild beasts,
lent her voice to the clamour of the crowd.
It began to dawn upon me that possibly God had
a purpose in all this, so taking my rifle, which Vui
had already brought from the house, accompanied by
7 2
Sketches from the
Rashidi with another rifle, we set out on a run,
down the path, across the river, and up the hill.
Plunging across a corn field and gaining the top, a
splendid sight met our eyes.
Every hill- top as far as we could see, was black
with people, and such a deafening, ear-splitting clamour
one seldom hears. It was a very foolish proceeding,
for it could not but excite the brutes and make them
doubly dangerous, and they are bad enough at the best.
Before us lay a deep, narrow gully, and the steep hill-
side beyond was covered with a thick growth of bushes
in which the rhino had taken refuge. The natives had
given him a wide berth, and seemed to be paralyzed
with fear. Crossing the gully we made our way cau-
tiously up the hill, peering closely into every bush.
Near the top a young man motioned that he would
show me where our prey was located. As soon as his
mission was accomplished, he disappeared and I saw
him no more. He was not to be blamed however for
putting no confidence in his bow and arrows, for the
big animal made a formidable appearance, stand-
ing as he did with his great ungainly head swinging
from side to side, evidently much excited by the noise.
The African rhinoceros is unquestionably the
Dark Continent. 73
homeliest brute that lives, and probably the hardest to
kill. This particular fellow measured ten feet in
length, and six feet in height. Attached to his pon-
derous bulk is a hideous head with little eyes, which
by actual measurement, are no larger than a man's.
On top of his snout are two formidable horns one be-
hind the other, the front one being two feet and more
in length, and the other about half as long. These
are his weapons of attack. His defensive armor con-
sists of a covering of hide an inch thick, and so hard
that a bullet striking him at any great range will
glance off as from armor plate.
The bush was so dense on either side of him, that
I could not get a shot in behind the ear as desired, so
had to risk one in front, a bad place, owing to the
horns being in the way. The first shot took off half
of the front horn and buried itself squarely in the
centre of his head, whereupon he set up a fearful
snorting, and tramping round and round in his tracks.
The next one was planted in the side of his head, and
still to our surprise he did not drop, but made off in
the opposite direction at great speed, for ungainly as
they are in looks, they can travel with amazing rap-
idity. The natives were simply frenzied when they
74 Sketches from the
saw the trail of blood, and with a yell they started in
pursuit. Over fields, through bushes, across streams,
we sped at break-neck soeed. Finally we came upon
him in another clump of bushes about a mile further
on. When I arrived, every point of vantage for sight-
seeing was occupied. Every hill-top and tree within
seeing distance was crowded with an excited throng.
I had to stand for a little and take it in, so grandly,
wildly magnificent it was ! I prayed mightily that
God would give me the hearts of that multitude
through that day's work. And he did. It seemed to
me like a crisis in the work of God at Kilungu station.
For weeks past they had been most unfriendly, and
would have nothing to do with us. And now the
Lord had thrust before me an opportunity of ridding
them of a great danger. They looked to me for deliv-
erance. What an opportunity to win their favor and
confidence ! It was a tremendously solemn moment to
me, for it seemed as though my whole work hung on
the issue. And God did not permit His servant to be
put to shame before the heathen.
The first care of every rhino hunter is to look
about for means of escape in case the animal should
take it into his dull head to charge. Close by was a
Dark Continent. 75
splendid tree for the purpose, but it had already been
appropriated by a crowd of young natives. These
were sent to another tree a little farther away, and
Rashidi was then posted in the top, Vui next, and then
Mutu Nyaa last, leaving a convenient limb vacant for
myself in case of need. Then removing my shoes, I
crept up to within fifty yards, from whence his huge
body could just be made out through a net-work of
bushes, and taking careful aim at his head, I fired.
If ever I prayed for steadiness of aim, I did then,
for I felt that my target was a place in the hearts of
this rebellious people, rather than the animal before
me, and I must win ! And I did ! Not a sound fol-
lowed the shot, and I knew that God had heard my
cry.
It proved to be indeed true, but to take no
chances, for experience teaches one here that some
animals may not be so dead as they seem, Rashidi
was given the delightful privilege of putting two more
shots into him from twenty-five yards.
I shouted to the nearest natives c< akwangamika! ' '
( he is dead ) and then there was a stampede. The
scene that followed beggars description ! From every
direction the frenzied mob broke through the thicket
76 Sketches from the
and surrounded the fallen giant of the plains. The
din was terrific, everybody telling everybody else just
how it happened.
White man's stock took a big rise ! Human
nature at the bottom is much the same the world over,
only needing the proper occasions to bring it out.
One little fellow with true boyish instinct, edged up
close and laid his hand on my rifle. I saw the longing
that was unexpressed, yielded it to him, and knew
that the boy's heart was mine thenceforth.
Contrary to all expectation, the natives would not
touch the meat — at least those in this district —
for the women — here as in all heathen lands the
bulwarks of superstition — declared that the cattle
would die, and the rain would not come if it were
touched, so the elders in council decided accordingly.
They came from Nzawi — twelve miles away — however,
and carried off loads of it. But there hasn't been a
particle of trouble since then. Confidence seems
quite generally established, and the work seems quite
hopeful.
Next day a long file of men came into the station ,
each one bearing a small bag of millet and beans as a
Dark Continent. 77
present. Thus does God in strange and unexpected
ways bring to pass His glorious purposes.
The battle against prejudice and suspicion had
been won, and we learned afresh that " God moves in
a mysterious way His wonders to perform. "
78 Sketches from the
CHAPTER V.
Entering the land— Beginning of vocabulary — "MUTHANIA, "
Savior; the story of a word — A distinguished (?) visitor and
sequel — A challenge.
11 To illumine the scroll of creation,
One swift sudden vision sufficed !
Every riddle of life worth the reading
Has found its interpreter — Christ."
THE caravan is slowly and painfully winding its way
among the rocks up the steep mountain sides into
Ukamba land. Native villages lie perched in almost
inaccessible places. Women and children working in
the fields run in terror before the white man's approach,
or stand in the distance gazing wonderingly. A few
young warriors, bolder than the rest, in all the glory
*
of red clay and grease habiliments, brass and copper
wire bracelets, and bow and arrows, come closer, and
when we stop to rest spring up like magic all around
us. Stork-like, they stand on one foot, one being
drawn up and resting on the other knee. Stolidly they
gaze for a little while, but human nature is much the
same the world over, curiosity gets the better of them,
and they begin pointing, and — is that language ? Are
they really talking? What a meaningless jargon!
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And we must learn that ! without grammar or vocab-
ulary, or even the faintest beginnings of one, we must
bring order out of this chaos of sounds that fall on
our ears.
But we settle to the task which is to be limited
only by the years of our lifetime.
An inquisitive young fellow points to something
and utters a single word ' ' Nichau ? ' ' What does he
mean ? We conclude from the association that he was
asking, " What is it ? " In order to prove it I point to
the nearest object, which proves to be his bow, and to
his surprise inquire "Nichau?" He hesitates and
then answers, " Uta." The two words are hastily
jotted down phonetically — i. e. by the sound — and
we have the beginning of the Kikamba vocabulary.
Then begins the work of compilation in dead
earnest. Day after day through the months and years
that follow we fling that word ' ' Nichau ? " in their
teeth, pester them with it on every possible occasion
until finally we have mastered several thousand words.
At first we get only the names of things as we
point to various objects, then by listening carefully,
catch short sentences which we hastily jot down in our
ever present note-book. Of course, for some time,
8o Sketches from the
until we become accustomed to the strange sounds,
we cannot distinguish words — just a babel of sounds
which seem to be all alike, but gradually they separate
themselves, and by means of comparisons we manage
to evolve the other parts of speech.
But how we long to preach the gospel to the mul-
titudes who are perishing through lack of knowledge
all about us ! Here indeed we have need of patience
lest the greatness of the task dishearten us ere it is
accomplished. African missionary work needs the
grace of stick-to-it-iveness in an eminent degree.
It was long after we were able to converse on
ordinary topics, before we could intelligently set before
them spiritual things.
For two years and a half I was baffled in my effort
to obtain one word. But it was the w T ord that has
belted the world with praise : the word that brings
order out of the chaos of man's vain search after God :
the sweetest word e'er spoken by human tongue : the
w T ord which is yet destined to make dark Africa light
in the Lord. That word was " Savior. " Never had
it seemed so sweet, so incomparably beautiful before !
What a big thing it became to me in those days !
In mountain-like proportions it loomed up before
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Dark Continent. 8i
me in my thoughts by day and in my dreams by
night.
You who have never known its lack cannot pos-
sibly realize how vast a place it occupies in the scheme
of redemption. All those weary months in which I
had been attempting to give out the glad message, I
had been compelled to circle all about the idea of salva-
tion, with labored sentences telling what should have
taken but a single word.
Hour after hour I've sat with Kikuvi and others,
exhausting every conceivable illustration in the vain
effort to draw out that magic word. But with agoniz-
ing persistency they would beat all about it without
approaching the thing itself. The very day on which
I was finally rewarded, I had no less than five persons
in my room questioning, explaining, but to no avail.
Never shall I forget the thrill of pleasure that swept
over me when at last the long search was crowned
with success.
Darkness had thrown its thick mantle over the
sad, sickening scenes of the day, to cover sadder sights
of revelry and sin by night. Even the brilliant
vault of the equatorial sky is hidden behind thick
masses of clouds, and only the mournful howl of the
82 Sketches from the
hyena is heard in the land. But with the master pas-
sion tugging at my heart I made my way to the men's
quarters and seated myself with them about the blaz-
ing camp-fire. They recounted the incidents of the day
minutely, and then Kikuvi — the most intelligent and
trustworthy native I ever saw — launched into a story
which gave me reasonable hope of getting the long-
looked - for word, so I braced myself to listen.
Bro. Kreiger — laboring in another tribe — had been
badly torn by a lion sometime before this, and Kikuvi,
being with him at the time, was the means of his rescue.
I felt that the word must come now, and two years
and a half of disappointment was put into the eager
attention with which I followed his story of the en-
counter. But he went through the whole scene most
eloquently, and concluded, even to his having fright-
ened the lioness away, without using a word which I
could construe to be the one sought after. Finally,
however, just as I w r as about to give up again in
despair, in a modest sort of way he remarked, " Bwana
nukuthaniwa na Kikuvi ' ' ( the master was saved by
Kikuvi. ) I could have leaped for very exhuberance
of joy, but being afraid of losing my precious poss-
ession I immediately changed the verb from the passive
Dark Continent. 83
to the active form and said, " Ukuthania Bwana?"
( you saved the master ? )
This proving correct I said, " why Kikuvi, this is
the word I've been trying to get you to tell me these
many days, because I wanted to tell you that Jesus,
the Son of God came" — "O yes" he interrupted — and
the black face lit up as in the lurid light of the camp
fire he turned to me — " I see it now, I understand !
Jesus came to ' ' Kuthania " (to save ) us from our
sins, and to deliver us from the hand of "Muimu"
(Satan)."
Never did sweeter words fall from mortal lips.
The treasure had been discovered at last, and weary
prospector, lighting suddenly upon rich gold reef,
never felt keener emotions than did the lonely mission-
ary when for the first time he was able to frame that
matchless word ' ' SAVIOR " in a new tongue. And
besides, it was the first real evidence I had had in all
those months that the message spoken in such con-
scious weakness had been grasped to any extent at all.
They assented, it is true : but it did not satisfy
me: I wanted certainty. Completely overcome I rushed
into the house and fell on my face in thanksgiving
before God.
84 Sketches from the
Next day was the sabbath. In the early morning
I was sitting in the house singing, to the accompani-
ment of my guitar, a rough translation of a hymn which
I had just made, when Kikuvi came in and said there
was a crowd outside who wanted to hear me. I went
out with all the joy-bells in my soul ringing, and sang
for them. But I wanted to preach — to set before them
my new discovery. "Muthania," (Savior,) it rang
through my being like sweet music. I began to speak
to them, but had not gone far before I was interrupted
by a query from Kikuvi, relative to the resurrection,
which is always an amazing thing to them. This too,
was encouraging, because questions usually betoken
interest, and also aid greatly in the work of enlight-
enment. His question answered, he surprised me still
further by saying, "Master, let me talk a little."
Wondering what he could have to say, I gave him
leave, and in a truly marvellous manner be began to
tell out the "old, old, story." I listened in amaze-
ment. I could scarcely believe that he could have
grasped the thought so intelligently from the frag-
mentary way I had been compelled to preach to them
hitherto. But that flash of intelligence the night
before by the camp-fire explained it all. In that
>.
'—
C
<u
t3
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Dark Continent. 85
blessed moment when the word ■ ' Savior ' ' dawned
upon his darkened vision, all the scattered fragments
of truth that had been floating about in his darkened
mind fell into line, and became one glorious revel-
ation.
Yes, and it brought a revelation to me as well. In
the light of that experience it seemed as though I
had never before known the meaning of the word
1 ' Savior. ' ' I had spoken it from childhood ; had
preached it for years; but somehow it became luminous
with meaning that night. Over against the frightful
need which settled down around me there flashed
a light unutterable, and a scarred hand traced in
letters of glory "M-U-T-H-A-N-I-A."
They have no conception of writing, not even
hieroglyphics, so my writing was usually done with a
huge crowd gaping through windows and doors, if in
the house; or, if I were traveling, well nigh tearing
down my tent in their eager desire to see.
An amusing circumstance happened in this con-
nection shortly after I had settled at Sakai, my first
station.
A magnificent specimen of a native, tall and com-
manding in presence, but with only a calico rag about
86 Sketches from the
his giant form, came to pay his respects to me. He
began by telling me what a great man I was, and ended
by drawing a very vivid word picture of his own
prowess and greatness. The average native is an
adept at self-laudation if there is anything likely to be
gained by it. Having sufficiently impressed me with
the fact that he was a man of influence in the tribe,
he adroitly informed me that he wished to become my
friend. In African parlance this invariably means a
present. I was unsophisticated, so fell into the trap
immediately, and my new ' ' friend ' ' departed with his
present. Before he went however, I learned his name
and jotted it down in a small note-book, which I used
as a pocket vocabulary. He was much interested in
this and had me read it over and over to him.
Two years and a half passed before I saw him
again, and then quite by accident. I was on a journey
some thirty miles from this place when, as we were
zig-zagging our way through the bush at the foot of a
mountain range over which we were to pass, whom
should we come upon in the narrow path, but my
"friend." He did not recognize me at first, but inviting
me to his village, turned about and led the way to it.
It was perched on the mountain side, a good stiff
Dark Continent. 87
climb. Upon reaching the village, he left us for a few
minutes, and then returned with some food for my car-
riers and myself.
While we were eating we engaged our host in
conversation. His surprise was great when he dis-
covered who I was, and he almost immediately asked
me if I remembered his name. " Yes " said I, taking
my note-book and reading from it, ' ' your name is
Minindi wa Uminvilo. " The effect was electrical.
His astonishment knew no bounds. Over and over I
had to read it, showing the magical lines that spoke to
me after two years and a half and told me his name.
Then suddenly he jumped to his feet, rushed into the
village proper, and emerged again, pulling his three
wives after him, These likewise had to be shown the
wonderful writing, and finally I had to write down the
names of all of them. And all this within the limits
of a single tribe. What about the problem of Africa's
evangelization in the light of the fact that over three
hundred and fifty distinct languages and countless dia-
lects are spoken within her borders, more than three-
fourths of which have never been reduced to writing !
If ever the curse of Babel rested upon a land, that land
i ? s Africa ! Every tribe is shut off from the others by
83 Sketches from the
this barrier. So distinct are these languages, that
members of one tribe do not understand the language
of the tribe immediately adjoining them, save in
isolated cases, where it has been learned through the
medium of slaves.
What a challenge to spirit- filled students is here !
In this realm of African philology, there is urgent need
of the brightest intellects and the deepest and truest
spiritualily.
The gauntlet is thrown down ! Who will take
it up?
Dark Continent. 89
CHAPTER VI.
" What's the use ? " — Are the heathen lost ? — A soul's awaken-
ing; the story of a flower — Getting rid of ear-marks — A ten-
der conscience — A prodigal's return.
fllifHAT'S the use of you missionaries trying to do
anything with these beastly Wakamba ? " So
spoke a certain official to me one day as we journeyed
together. Yes, " what's the use?" we reiterate. If
we are set merely to put our religion over against the
fetichism of the African, what's the use? If it is
merely a liberal-minded charity, or a broad philan-
thropy that impels us to go to Africa, what is the use ?
If it is only a civilizing agency we are setting up,
what's the use ? It might be beautiful as a charity,
and noble as a philanthropy, and audacious as a civiliz-
ing enterprise, but these are not the reasons that justify
missions to the African. No ! No ! It is because we
believe there is a divine potency in the gospel of Christ,
to reach down to the lowest depths of African beastli-
ness, and transform it, creating these lost ones anew
in the image of God; because what Christ has com-
manded He is able and will perform; because what He
ca?i do with the dregs of humanity has been imaged in
90 Sketches from the
what He has done we are persuaded that even the aw-
fully degraded African ought to hear the message of
God's love. And experience has abundantly proved
that our confidence was not misplaced. He ought to
hear it because he needs it. The commands of Christ
are not arbitrary, unreasonable things. Every com-
mand springs from a distinct need.
It is said by opponents of missions, that if the
heathen live up to the light they have they are all right.
If it were possible for every man to do this of himself,
the point might be well taken. But in that case where
were the need of the death of Christ ? It is because
all were concluded under sin that He came into man's
place that He might bring man into His place. Be-
cause there was "none good, no, not one," He, the on-
ly good one, received the penalty and opened a new
and living way into the Father's presence for those —
but only those — who would believe on Him.
Now the heathen not only do not live up to the
light of their conscience, but know they do not, and
deliberately do wrong from practically the same mo-
tives that inspire wrong doing in civilized lands.
Let me relate an incident in point. The native
tribes, as I said before, are constantly warring one
Dark Continent. 91
with another, and I had frequently to witness these
strifes, or at least see the result of them.
One day I was working in my garden, when a
large war party passed out toward the plains along the
hills opposite my station. They were bound for a
raid upon the WaKikuyu, the tribe adjoining us on
the north. I had used my utmost endeavor to get
them to desist from this raid, but without success.
Kikuvi w r as standing by my side, and as the long
black line crept on to the music of the drums, I turned
to him, sick at heart, and began talking to him about
it. I told him that this raiding and killing was dis-
pleasing to " Ngai" ( God ); that this capturing of
women and children and enslaving them was wrong in
the sight of God. He listened attentively, and then
exclaimed, " Why, Master, we know that God does
not like these things !" I was greatly surprised, for
the popular idea concerning God, is, that He is a great
being aw T ay off somewhere, too great to be concerned
with human-kind, and has accordingly left the con-
trol of the world to evil spirits. ' ' How do you know
this?" I questioned. "Many moons ago " he re-
plied, " there was a great storm. In the midst of it,
Ngai told our fathers, that he was not pleased with
92 Sketches from the
their fighting; that if they continued to do so, He
would withhold the rain from them, and there would
be a famine; but if they stopped, He would send plen-
ty of rain, and they should not go hungry. Our fath-
ers listened to this ' ' Ndoto ' ' ( message ) and for
some months did not fight. But we like to fight, w r e
would rather fight than do anything else ; we wanted
more cattle and goats, more women for wives and
slaves, so w r e went to fighting again, and have kept it
up ever since." " Now, " said he significantly," be-
hold the great " munyalo (hunger) that has come up-
on us. " For months the famine had been tightening
its grip upon the land; suffering multitudes thronged
the station; w r hile everywhere was the fearful spectacle
of stark forms lying in the paths.
Here was this heathen man, this savage, directly
attributing this awful visitation to their disobedience
of this vision, or revelation, whatever it may be
called.
Surely God hath not left himself without a wit-
ness to any people, how T ever degraded they may be.
" These that have sinned without the law, shall also
perish without the law. " But whatever the fate of
the heathen may be, it rests with us to face a clear
Dark Continent. 93
command of Christ our Master, and adjust ourselves
to it.
It is interesting to note the manner in which a
soul first emerges from the blackness of heathenism
into the broad daylight of Christianity. A pathetic
interest centres in the first stirrings of that new life
which is destined to burst the bonds that have held it
in so long. The story of Vui's awakening is interest-
ing in this connection.
He was my "boy"; i. e. personal attendant.
We were on a "safari" (journey); he as usual by
my side, or more correctly speaking, just behind me —
for natives never think of traveling otherwise than in
single file — when he ran out of the path, and presently
came to me bearing a flower in his hand, " Bwana, ua
mzuri hili ? " ( Master, is'nt this a pretty flower ? " ,
You wonder what possible significance could be
attached to such an ordinary act as picking up a flow-
er ! You would not wonder if your view-point were
changed, and you could see the ace in its African set-
ting. Here it would be unnoticed because of its very
naturalness, there, it became an epoch in a soul's
development.
Flowers in bewildering profusion everywhere
94 Sketches from the
abound, but to the native's eye they are as though
they were not. He never thinks of plucking one, or
of stooping to smell its fragrance. The sense of beau-
ty is lost; he has become so used to ugliness, that it
has come to be his standard of beauty; his ear has
become so accustomed to discord, that it appears to
him as harmony; foulness and filth have so demoralized
his sence of smell, that the fragrance of the flower
is lost upon him; and even taste is so perverted that he
calls bitter sweet, and sweet bitter. He is a sad
jumble of inconsistencies from first to last.
To me, then, the simple action of my black boy
spoke a heart-lifting message. It meant the heart's
awakening, the budding forth of a soul, the first faint
glimmer of light telling him that he was an immortal
being. Not that he understood all these things, oh no;
but a something had taken place which had in it all
of these elements.
Well, from that time he began to pluck bouquets
for me and place them upon my table; then I noticed
that he began to discriminate between flowers, select-
ing those which he knew I especially liked. This
was kept up so faithfully, that should I go away for a
few days or a week, upon my return I would always
Dark Continent. 95
find a fresh bouquet awaiting me. Meanwhile I was
telling him the old, old story as simply and earnestly
as I could, and daily he was taking it in and yielding
to its sweet, powerful influence. I did not urge him
much, fearing his affection for me might induce him
to make a declaration which was not grounded on per-
sonal faith in the Savior. I wanted the Spirit alone
to do the work of convicting, and He did. Vui became
a devoted Christian, and thereafter lived an exception-
ally consistent life, of which all who knew him were
witnesses.
But every Jordan has its wilderness, and Vui's
faith was put to the test. The native workmen, many
of whom were, nominally at least, Mohammedans,
began to taunt him. They would point to the holes
in his ears, great holes into which I could thrust my
thumb, made while yet a mere lad in his heathen home,
and jeeringly say, You are only an "Mshenzi" !
(Bushman or heathen ! )
Finally he came to me and asked me if something
could not be done to stop this: if the holes could not
be sewed up. I replied that it would do no good, as
the parts would not adhere. He came back a second
time and I .put him off, saying it mattered not what
96 Sketches from the
the men said about him, if Jesus were pleased with
him. He could not help the holes being there, but he
could keep from living like a heathen.
This satisfied him for a time, then he came again
and with great earnestness besought me to sew up the
holes, ''For" said he, "I am not a Bushman now,
but a Christian, and I do not want them to call me a
heathen just because there are holes in my ears."
I had to submit, though I knew it was futile. I
seated him on the floor before me, and began the grue-
some task of obliterating those visible marks of heath-
enism. At every jab of the needle he writhed in
agony, and the blood flowed down and dyed his shirt
crimson. Several times I hesitated, but he said, " Go
on." The first ear completed, I said, "Vui, let me
stop now, the pain is too great." For answer he
rolled his head over on my knee and said, " finish it. "
So desperately in earnest was he to get rid of every
vestige of the old heathen life !
He was happy for the few days that the threads
held the parts together, but after a while they came
open again, and I thought now he would give it up.
But no, he came to have the thing done over again.
This time I absolutely refused. A surgeon could have
Dark Continent. 97
done it, but I did not care to take the risk myself.
But this boy was of the stuff martyrs are made of, so
it was not surprising when he came in one day with
the parts fastened together with thorns, which he had
persuaded a native to thrust through the ears. Such
grit was worthy of a better issue, but he failed, and
the poor boy had to learn to overcome through the
blood of the Lamb, and the word of his testimony.
Oh ! that Christians at home were as determined
to rid themselves of the ear marks of the old life ! But
alas, how they cling — selfishness, pride, malice, envy,
covetousness and a host of other things — marking us
still as more or less the servants of sin !
Again about a year and a half after he became a
Christian, he demonstrated how a conscience that had
been seared and blunted through years, even genera-
tions of neglect, might became so tendered as to
detect even the slightest deviation from the straight
way.
I was sitting at my table one evening after supper,
when I heard a great noise in the direction of the men's
quarters. I went out, and there stood one of the men,
a poor simple fellow named Ndolo, and he was crying.
I asked him what was the matter. He replied that
98 Sketches from the
another of the men, named Rashid, had hit him. I
went with him down to the quarters, called all the men
out and carefully inquired into the matter. Finding
it was only a little thing, such as frequently occurred,
I was about to pass it off, but that it should not pass
entirely unnoticed, I reprimanded Rashid, and then
sent the men back to their quarters, while I returned
to the house.
About ten o'clock, while I was busily engaged in
the effort to unravel a difficult construction in grammar,
I was conscious of a black form slipping into the room
behind me. Turning, I discovered Vui sitting on a
box and acting very shamefaced about something. I
knew something was up, for it was a very unusual
thing for him to come to the house at that hour of the
night. "Utaka nini?" (What do you want?) I asked.
His head dropped on his black bosom as he replied,
' ' Nataka Ukuomba na mimi," (I want you to pray
with me.) "But why do you want me to pray with you
at this hour of the night?" "My heart is'nt right,
Yesu is'nt pleased with me," he replied. " But why?
what have you been doing that Yesu is so displeased
with you?" The head went lower, "You scolded
Rashid to-night and I stood by and said nothing.
Dark Continent. 99
It wasn't his fault, it was my fault, for Rashid
hit Ndolo for something Ndolo had done to me. I
was afraid that you would scold me too, so I kept
still. But I can'tsleep, do pray for me. "
It was a little thing, so small that most of us
would likely have passed it by as of no great conse-
quence, but it was just big enough to that erstwhile
slave-boy, to mar his fellowship with the Master he
had learned to love.
Let it not be thought however, that these con-
verts never weaken under the strain of persecution to
which they are sometimes subjected. The frail crea-
tures, lacking the reinforcement of generations of
moral training, not infrequently bring us pain by their
lapses, but the marvel is that these are not more fre-
quent and serious.
Vui did indeed give way once, but it was only for
a short time. But during this time he requested me
to let him work with the porters, as he did not want
to be with me in the house. 'Tis ever so with sin,
in makes the sinner uncomfortable in the Master's
presence.
But Vui got back. Like the prodigal, the husks
reminded him of the abundance in Father's house, and
ILofC.
ioo Sketches from the
he came back. I was sitting in the gathering dark-
ness outside the house when he came. He first asked
me for some medicine, but I did not happen to have
any for his supposed ailment. Still he lingered, say-
ing nothing, yet his very actions telling of a struggle
within. I felt that he wanted something beside medi-
cine, and he did. But his disease was too deep for
drugs. Poor boy ! The past few days have been
days of heart lonliness; he has been away from his
Master. Under the jeers and persecutions of his com-
panions his strength gave way, and for a brief period
he wandered. This led to a desire to be away from
me, and hence his request to be transferred from house
duty to porter's work.
But thank God he had gotten a taste of heavenly
things, and he soon found that garlic and onions were
poor substitutes ! I waited, he fidgeted, then it came
out. " Master, I want you to pray with me. " That
was music to my ears. It told me that the Holy Spir-
it had found a place in that black boy's heart. It
told me too, that this trial of his faith would work
patience, and patience experience, for he would realize
now as not before, the genuineness, the reality of his
faith.
Dark Continent. ioi
For a few days the joy of the Lord had been with-
drawn, and he saw how dark and dismal and cold is
life without Jesus, after having once tasted of His
goodness. We came in and knelt down in the dark ;
we could not see each other, but the Lord saw, and
the angels rejoiced, and heaven echoed with gladness !
It wasn't a polished prayer, but the Great High Priest
up yonder took the broken fragments, added the sweet
incense of His own merit, and it came before the
Father a sweet-smelling savour. It was the cry of a
child that had lost the touch of Father's hand in the
darkness of night, and feeling the gloom as a tangible
thing settle round him, called out for that dear pres-
ence again.
Surely "it is the Lord's doings and it is marvellous
in our eyes ! " " With man it is impossible, ' ' but ' ' the
things that are impossible with men are possible with
God." From this vast rubbish heap of creation, the
Architect of human destinies picks the battered, ruined
blocks of humanity, and under the friction of His
unerring hand, makes of them polished shafts to be
set up in the eternal temple !
io2 Sketches from the
CHAPTER VII.
The universal consciousness — Fetichism — A revolting dance — A
familiar sight — A significant sacrificce — An unjust criticism —
The witch-doctor — Treatment of the sick.
' ' Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,
Who have faith in God and nature,
Who believe that in all ages
Every human heart is human,
That in every savage bosom
There are longings, yearnings, strivings,
For the good they comprehend not,
That the feeble hands and helpless,
Groping blindly in the darkness,
Touch God's right hand in that darkness
And are lifted up and strengthened —
Listen !"
C*IN, and the need of an atonement for sin, is a fact
of universal consciousness. In splendid mansions
of the avenue, and in the rude huts of the savage, men
are one in the consciousness of God. The extremes of
human society here meet and stand upon one plat-
form. They are also one in the consciousness that an
immeasurable distance separates them from God.
This has led to a universal effort to bridge the chasm.
Men look above, and God is there: they look
within, and sin is there: and somehow, there comes a
Dark Continent. 103
sense of uneasiness. Something must be done, and
instinctively the thought of man turns toward sacri-
fice. So we have religions manifold: idols innumera-
ble: fetiches, charms, dances, sacrifices, testifying to
the world-wide restlessness of human hearts without
God.
We therefore conclude that every such sacrifice
and offering: every superstitious rite and ceremony;
every idol before which blinded, deluded devotees bow
down in abject slavery of spirit, is but a testimony to
a feeling ingrained deep in the human heart that God
is, that sin is, and that between the two there must be
a mediator — a Savior. This feeling finds expression
in myriad forms. Enslaved by horrid superstition,
imagination runs riot, peopling the universe with ter-
rors; led captive by Satan at his will, the world is
racked with pain, and deluged with blood through the
frenzied efforts of men to find a way to God.
In speaking of the religious ideas and customs of
any portion of the lost continent, it must be borne in
mind that owing to its vastness, what would be true
of the one portion might not be true of another, though
there are many things common to all. Generally
speaking, though, the Bantu tribes are not idol wor-
104 Sketches from the
shipers. Fetichism, or trust in charms, is the prevail-
ing belief. These may be of various kinds — a bone, a
stick, a piece of cloth, as suits the caprice of the
witch-doctor or the whim of the subject. I have even
seen them use thus a piece of paper picked up on the
station premises.
If you would have me describe fetichism so as to
be understood clearly, I should say, look about you !
The man who nails a horse-shoe over his door ' 'for
good luck " has a fetich; those persons who solemnly
break the " wish-bone " of a chicken, believing certain
things wished for in the act will happen, have a fetich;
that man who carries a rabbit's foot about in his pock-
et as a cure for his rheumatism, carries nothing less
than a fetich. These might be added to extensively,
but it is enough to say that there are a good many
evidences of our heathen ancestry clinging to us yet.
Then there are sacrifices and offerings and dances
of various kinds. It should be noted however, that
all this has little to do directly with God, for since
according to their idea He has left the control of the
world to evil spirits, their efforts are directed to prop-
>
itiating these. The whole thing becomes then noth-
ing more nor less than devil worship.
Dark Continent. 105
To my mind the saddest thing in the world is the
fruitless effort of Africa's myriad souls to find a way
to God. This blind groping in the dark ; this pathet-
ic reaching out through the night of ignorance that
settles round them like a pall; this eternal struggle
against a merciless fate that forever terrifies them by
its dread approach ; this everlasting cry with no re-
sponse following ; is certainly the saddest tragedy of
human life.
I've seen the African women dance hour after
hour, in the most loathesome and disgusting manner ;
abandoning themselves, body, mind and spirit to the
spell of their awful delusion. With vacant, helpless
look, yet with the energy of despair, flinging them-
selves against the phantom forces that encompass
them about. The breath comes in quick, short gasps,
the eyes stand out ; the body twitches convulsively;
the drums beat monotonously what seemed to me the
dirge of hope; then from this mass of flinging arms
and twitching bodies there reels forth a form more
devilish than human, who with an unearthly shriek,
falls in convulsions at my feet. Do they pick her up,
carry her tenderly to some quiet spot and minister to
her there ? Not they ! Paganism has no lesson to
106 Sketches from the
teach her blinded devotees in the art of compassion.
Its whole tendency is toward a calloused heart, a
seared conscience, a blunfed susceptibility ; no warm
Gulf Stream of Divine love touches the bleak waste of
these lives.
So this woman lies there alone, eyes staring,
mouth frothing, body twitching. Someone cakes her
place in the dance, and the unequal struggle goes on —
ever fighting, ever losing. And all for what? Just
to find an answer to the imperious question, which in
some form or other springs up in every human heart,
"Where is the lamb?"
Perhaps I can best bring it before my readers by
quoting from my diary under date of Feb. 20th, '98.
'* I have just returned from a sight, which, often
as I see it, leaves me with an aching, burdened heart.
A peculiar kind of dance has been in progress for sev-
eral days, and seems likely to continue for several days
longer, but I have been too busy hitherto to go near.
This afternoon, accompanied by Mutu Nyaa, I went
to see this M Kitombo. M It was the same old story of
God-dishonoring, man-degrading superstition, only
with new details added. The numerous native dances,
however much they may vary as to detail, present the
Dark Continent. 107
same dominating features of demon worship always.
This one was strange, but the revolting features
seemed all the more prominent. Picture to yourself
forty or fifty women and girls, with a few young men
and children — for be it understood women are the
bulwarks of superstition abroad, as they are the most
k>5'al defenders of the faith at home. All are naked
save for a strip of cloth about the loins. Each one
carries in his or her hand, a slender bamboo rod, from
ten to fifteen feet in length, decorated from the top
about half its length with white feathers. In answer
to my query Mutu Nyaa explained the meaning of
these rods with the significant reply, " Aimu " ( spir-
its).
This is the only dance I have seen in which there
is no yelling, or perhaps I should say, nothing resem-
bling a song. No one utters a word, save now and
then when one who has lost all semblance of reason,
breaks forth with the most unearthly screams. She
trembles from head to foot, and pays no attention to
anything that goes on about her. Yet they dare not
stop: it would seem that their very lives depended
upon their ability to keep going. They seem utterly
at the mercy of some demoniacal power. And they
108 Sketches from the
tell me that this is indeed the case. Now and again
other women carrying large calabashes of water enter
in among the crazed dancers, and dash quantities of
water into their faces and over their quivering, per-
spiring bodies.
I saw one poor woman who had been led out of
the crowd — so utterly helpless was she in the grip of
this awful spell — to nurse a little babe. She sat on
the ground, her arms hanging limp at her side, her
whole body twitching convulsively, while she paid not
the slightest attention to the babe at her breast.
And this is womanhood in Africa, womanhood
without God ! Oh God, what a pity ! What a
shame ! Thou wouldst save, but there is no one to
tell them ! Thou wouldst deliver them from the blind
groping in the dark, but there is no one to point the
way ! Thou hast reconciled this sin-burdened world
to thyself in the death of thy Son, but these and count-
less others do not know it ! Who is to blame my
fellow Christians ? Is it you ? Is it I ? ' '
Another dance — a familiar sight — which usually
occurs at the time of the new moon, is weird and fan-
tastic to a degree. The young men have decorated
themselves for this occasion with great care, and the
o
o
3
Dark Continent. 109
result could scarcely be more ghoulish if there had
been a design to make it so. The body is smeared
with a fresh coat of red clay and grease, around the
eyes are painted large white circles, within these an-
other circle of bright red, a streak of white down the
nose, feathers in their hair — if they have not shaved the
head — feathers on the elbows, and bells on the ankles.
In the changing light of the moon they look ghostly
beyond description.
The men form in line, the women facing them,
their feet touching; then to the din of the numerous
drums they lay their cheeks together and } r ell into
each others ears at the top of their voices, meanwhile
keeping time to the music (?) by throwing their arms
and shoulders in the most disgusting manner, moving
their feet only enough to jingle the rude bells fastened
to their ankles. The din is terrific, and many a sleep-
less night have we had as they kept it up into the
"wee sma' hours, " for the very same reasons that the
prophets of Baal so frantically besought their God to
send rain upon the famished earth.
A peculiar ceremony is that connected with the
offering of a sacrifice about the time of the harvest.
All the afternoon the women are gathering at a given
no Sketches from the
point, where they roast corn, and have a good time
generally. In the evening a large fire is built, and
later on several of them, around a big tree. Then
their offering of beans, or corn, or millet is placed at
the foot of the tree, after which the women begin to
circle around the tree, singing to the music of the
drums a song of thanksgiving for the harvest. The
darkness of the night, the great fires sending light and
shadow chasing one another in the leafy branches over-
head, the black figures moving about the tree chanting
the weird and unearthly strains, is a scene that, once
witnessed, can never be effaced from memory. While
this is going on, some old men come in leading
a big goat. The killing of the animal is as unique as
it is brutal. One man holds the animal upon the feet,
while another squats before him, grasps the poor beast
by the mouth, and slowly smothers him to death.
The blood is then taken and poured out at the foot of
the tree, while the body is feasted upon.
It is striking to note the similarity between some
of the rites and customs, and those of ancient Egypt,
and especially of Israel. There are the offerings of the
first fruits of harvest : there are the groves in high
places where sacrifices and offerings are made ; and the
Dark Continent. i i i
most remarkable of all, a sacrifice which very nearly
resembles the old wave-offering of Israel. A goat is
sacrificed, cut in two, one half is devoted to the offerer
for a feast, the other half is cut into small pieces and
tossed into the air as a propitiation to the spirits.
Yet I have heard travelers declare that these
people were without religious consciousness altogether.
The man who said it was hopeless to save these
<( beastly Africans" replied to my reference to the
savagery of our ancestors, that they had religious ideas
as expressed in the worship of Thor and Woden and
other deities, while these had absolutely no conception
of a Supreme being. Then as we journeyed on he
expressed a great desire to see a native village, ' ' For, ' '
said he, ■ ' I have not seen a village since I have been
in the country." The reason being, that in that
region, the villages were hidden away in the dense
bush through fear of the dreaded Masai raids.
He had seen the few wretched, half -starved,
greasy, ill-smelling natives, who had been attracted to
the railway by curiosity or cupidity, or both, and who
there gave no indication of the real life of the people,
and from this superficial knowledge had drawn con-
clusions at once erroneous, misleading as to mission
ii2 Sketches from the
work, and therefore unjust and unscientific. It is to
be feared that much of what passes for criticism of
mission work, has no more ground than the above.
The witch-doctor is an important figure in African
religious affairs. Professing to communicate with the
spirit world, he holds a remarkable power over the
poor deluded people. And usually he is keen enough
to see his advantage and use it. A goat or two must
always be forthcoming, ere he can hold converse with
the spirits ; so he fattens upon the helplessness of his
deluded followers.
Their treatment of the sick is sometimes frightful.
The tortures the poor sufferers have to undergo beg-
gar description. Huge gangrenous ulcers are plastered
with dirt and manure, and then left for days before it
is changed ; women suffering from fever are dragged
from their huts and compelled to dance the evil spirit
away ; cuts are made in the skin, and a powder made
from glass beads and various stones is rubbed into the
quivering flesh.
In these, and countless other ways, are these
blinded children of the lost continent made to feel the
galling yoke of a servitude worse than physical
slavery.
Dark Continent. 113
Imagination peoples the universe with vague, ter-
rible shapes, ever ready to pounce upon them and rend
them with pain or disease, or perchance bring some
great calamity upon them ; so the weary round of
sacrifice, and offering, and dance, must needs be in
order to stay the evil which, notwithstanding all their
efforts, is always impending, hanging like a sword of
judgment over them.
Thus the battle for Africa's redemption has to be
fought, not alone against the stupidity, and supersti-
tion and hatred of flesh and blood, but here the rulers
of the darkness of this world have massed their forces
contesting to the death every inch of ground.
1 14 Sketches from the
CHAPTER VIII.
The day of small things — White ants; how they live, how they
work — "Siafu"; their method of travelling— Routed out— An
army ot locusts — Warding them off — Snakes: a meeting rudely
disturbed — Vui kills one — Lizards— Jiggers.
H COR who hath despised the day of small things?
Surely not one who has had experience with
the myriad forms of insect life in the tropics ! Indeed
such a one must often have been humiliated before the
prowess of these diminutive assailants. The wise
man's injunction, " Go to the ant, thou sluggard, con-
sider her ways, and be wise, " has a fresh significance,
when -you behold this industrious little creature literally
eating your house down over your head.
Perhaps the following quotation from my diary
under date of Jan. 12th, '98 may bring the whole
matter before you briefly with its attendant circum-
stances.
"Many things are combining to wrest from me
the splendid health that has hitherto been granted me.
Whether Kilungu is more unhealthy than Sakai —
which certainly is so in a measure at least, due to the
close proximity to water — or whether from lack of
nourishing food, combined with excessive labors, or a
Dark Continent. 115
combination of these, I know not, but my health is
being undermined. We have almost no medicines.
For three days I have been having fever, and I wabble
about in most uncanny fashion, unable either to eat or
sleep. The latter fact is due partially to other causes,
however. Between mosquitoes and rats, one's time is
pretty well occupied. And it's hard to tell which are
the worse. The former come ' in swarms ' ; they sing
in fiendish glee about your head : they whet their
swords, and after maneuvering for an opening, strike
home for blood. You strike back, but they hover
above you and fling derision in your teeth, while you
sink back to meditate upon the frailty of man, who,
though made but a little while lower than the angels,
is helpless before a mosquito.
The rats come in droves. They eat your shoes,
your clothes, your food : then sighing for other worlds
to conquer, they undermine your floor, and one day it
opens and swallows you up, and you must build anew.
But this is not all. Their voracity knows no limit.
They riddle your bed clothing, till the wind whistles
through the apertures and you vainly strive to keep
warm. And should you by any chance fall into a
blissful aoze, you are rudely awakened by these little
no Sketches from the
rodents pulling at your hair ; or perchance you feel a
sharp throbbing pain resembling the pulling of a tooth
and you start up to shake a rat off your ear from which
he has been trying to feast. But these are little things
to which one may become accustomed in a measure ;
they are but inconveniences of circumstance, and one
can learn to adjust these to their proper place in the
sum of African life.
There are several varieties of ants in Africa, but
those which give most trouble are the famous termite,
known as the white ant, and a little reddish-brown
fellow, called the " siafu. " The former devote them-
selves to your property, the latter to yourself. The
white ant has a varied existence. He lives in quite
pretentious style, building for himself huge, dome-like
hills of clay, which sometimes attain a height of ten or
twelve feet. These are honeycombed with galleries,
the sides of which are of an exceedingly hard sub-
stance made by mixing a kind of glueish spittle with
the clay.
The ants seem to be hatched at the beginning of
the rainy season, and for the first few hours of their
existence they are provided with wings. After a rain
Dark Continent. 117
they may be seen swarming forth from thousands of
these domes, filling the sky with a fluttering mass.
Poor work they make of it though ; they are
made to crawl, and not to fly; Unable to control
themselves they are driven by the wind hither and
thither ; their little silken wings soon drop off, and
from henceforth they are doomed to an existence
which is of the earth, earthy. But the brief tenure of
life is very uncertain, and maybe, indeed is, often term-
inated abruptly. The natives consider the ant a great
delicacy during the tender period of his infancy. Woe
to him if he comes forth in the evening ! A large
place is cleared and swept clean, the native takes his
stand in the midst, and with a huge torch of slender
twigs, singes the wings and toasts the body of the
flying insects at once; they fall into the cleared space
and are swept up into bags and devoured with avidity.
The effect at night from the hundreds of gleaming
torch-lights piercing the inky blackness, is fantastic
and beautiful.
I had a very good mackintosh which I prized
very highly, as it had been given me by the young
people of I, . I went on a journey which would
occupy about a week, so I took the precaution to
1 1 8 Sketches from the
hang the coat from the rafters, being careful that it
was several inches from the wall. This did not deter
them however; up the wall they came, attracted
doubtless by the smell, and stopping opposite the coat,
deliberately set to work building a bridge of mud right
across the intervening space to the coveted prize, and
when I returned the carefully treasured coat was plas-
tered with mud and riddled with holes. Of course
after a few such experiences, we learn to a greater or
less degree how to circumvent these voracious little
creatures, but they are always an incentive to careful-
ness.
As you travel along the narrow paths which serve
for roads, you frequently see a dark line across the
path before you. Beware ! if you are wise you will go
carefully and choose your stepping place. These are
the dreaded " siafu " out on a foraging expedition.
They will amply repay a careful investigation however,
under proper conditions. I have frequently watched
and always admired their movements. That dark
thing across the path is nothing less than two living
walls of ' ' siafu. ' ' They march in solid ' ' colums of
eight, " the line varying from fifty to a hundred or
more feet in length. When they come to a path they
Dark Continent. 119
throw two lines across, composed of living walls often
an inch high, ant piled upon ant in apparently inextri-
cable confusion, the main body scurrying in hot haste
between these protecting barricades. And this is not
all : out along the path in both directions, important
little fellows nervously rush to and fro scouting a full
yard or more — on the lookout for possible danger.
Interesting ! Yes: but 'tis better to keep them at
a distance, for they may prove unpleasant, if not actu-
ally dangerous. Natives assert that the "siafu" have
been known to overcome no less an animal than an
elephant by swarming into eyes, ears and nostrils.
If such diminutive creatures working in concert
can accomplish such a task, what might not the church
of Christ accomplish were her membership massed in
one tremendous assault against the forces of iniquity !
I have been awakened at night with a sensation as
of sleeping upon blankets full of sand. But the
first move convinced me very forcibly that my dis-
comfort arose not from sand, but from the dreaded
11 siafu. " They swarmed all over me, biting me in a
hundred different places at once in a most painful
manner, so making a virtue of necessity and leaping
out of bed, I attempted to brush them off. But they
120 Sketches from the
will not be gotten rid of so lightly; you must pull
them off one by one, and they will frequently leave
their heads sticking to the flesh rather than relinquish
their tenacious hold.
Their foraging completed they again fall into line,
influenced by some mysterious signal, and march
forth leaving you free to return in peace.
Then too, we have that other division of God's
great army with which he subdued the pride of
Egypt's insolent monarch — namely, locusts. Here
again is a practical lesson on the power of concentrated
effort. One little locust — how insignificant ! Mil-
lions of these together, they become a terrible scourge,
a devasting horde. While one day watching the pass-
ing myriads of locusts, which at times dimmed the
glare of the mid-day sun, there occurred a thrilling
sight.
Regiments and batallions had passed up the valley
and evidently checked by the mountains were now
returning. Up from below came the sound of another
advancing host. Just before my door they met
Both were flying at tremendous speed, and the com-
pact was thrilling. With terrific force they came
together like hostile armies contending over disputed
Dark Continent. 121
territory. For a moment the lines intermingled as in
hand to hand conflict ; then gradually the centre,
pressed by the still advancing legions from behind,
began to heave upward as in the throes of mortal
combat. Both forces commingling, the living wave
rolled upward and then backward above the serried
ranks below. Then it seemed like some splendidly
executed military evolution as the two separate lines
continued to join and move away together until all
had passed. The noise was like the distant roar of
Niagara. But it is soon gone and our hearts are
relieved as we watch them disappear over the hills,
though we reflect with sadness on the possible effect
on the valleys beyond.
If they can be kept on the move, well; but once
they settle even*thing green disappears before their
ruinous advance. So when the cry " Ngie!" (locusts)
is heard in the land, all available men, women and
children make it their business to out-do their neigh-
bors in the volumes of noise they can create. Out to
their little fields they swarm, rushing hither and
thither, beating drums, yelling at the top of their
voices, and so keeping the invaders on the move.
Consequently they do not do much harm in the day
122 Sketches from the
time, but at night they settle down when there's none
to molest, and in the morning the poor native looks
forth upon bare twigs where had been blossoms or
fruit.
Snakes? Yes, plenty of them of all colors, and
degrees of meanness ; yet few, if any of the larger
variety, such as are encountered on the West Coast
and in other parts. But the smaller ones make life
quite interesting enough for the average person.
I was talking to a group of men one day who
were seated on the floor before me, and they appeared
to be greatly interested. But all at once there was a
panic, and with yells and frantic haste, my congrega-
tion disappeared through the door. I caught the
word "Nzoka" (snake) as they went, and turning
in my chair, discovered a snake curled up within two
feet of me. He did not disturb any more services.
One evening while sitting on the veranda just
after sunset, a snake about four feet long, and very
poisonous, glided under my chair and around the end
of the house. By the time I had secured a stick, he
had disappeared. Suspecting he might be in the
house, I lit a candle and after a little search, found
him coiled up under a cup-board containing my pro-
Dark Continent. 125
visions. Just then Vui came in and seeing the snake,
cried out, "Wait, Bwana, until I get my bow and
arrows," and dashed off. I stood guard until he
returned, then held the candle while he proceeded to
slaughter his snakeship. The first arrow pinned him
to the wall, but he was far from being dead. Vui put
fully a dozen arrows into him before we could get at
him safely to dispatch him.
Lizards too, there are in great numbers and vari-
ety of color and size, scurrying across your path when
you journey, and gliding over the walls of your honse
when you remain at home. But one becomes used to
them, and I even found that they relieved the tedium
of those lonely months when no white face brought
cheer or change to my habitation.
Last of this record of pests, but among the most
troublesome of all, are the jiggers. About half the
size of an ordinary pin -head, they yet possess in their
small anatomy more concentrated, distilled, ready- for-
use power of inconveniencing humanity, than all other
insects I know of. Their operations are usually con-
fined to the feet of their subjects, and in a country
where so much depends upon feet, the choice is very
disconcerting. Your first sensaticn is that of intoler-
124 Sketches from the
able itching, but unless you are an expert at the busi-
ness, you fail utterly to detect the offender, for by this
time she has burrowed her way underneath the skin
where she goes to work enlarging her borders. For a
day or two you feel nothing, then your feet grow pain-
ful, and when you finally get at the intruder, she has
made a hole as large as half a pea. Multiply this sev-
eral times and you have a disabled missionary, or por-
ter, as the case may be.
The latter suffer greatly from them because of
carelessness, frequently being incapacitated for work
by them.
Other pests might be named, but these are the most
familiar. And why mention them at all, you ask?
Well, because the daily tests that come to the mission-
ary through these little things, really require more
grace, and greater dependence upon the Holy Spirit
for strength to overcome, than in the occasional great
danger or wrenching trial. 'Tis harder to face the
nine hundred and ninety-nine little vexing things of
the every day life, in a Christ-like way, than the great
lions that meet us at long intervals.
Dark Continent. 125
CHAPTER IX.
The promised Presence— Famine — Followed by a lion — We go
a-fishing — An opportune meeting — Charged by a lioness; —
narrow escape; a gracious deliverance — The rhinoceros again.
ii f\0 YE — and lo ! I am with you" becomes
a living reality under even the ordinary stress
of missionary life, but it becomes increasingly so when
peculiar dangers, or exceptional trials bring into
bright relief the superintending Providence of our
heavenly Father. Let these few incidents, culled
from many, call attention, not to a missionary for the
time being turned hunter, but to the God of the mis-
sionary, and of every one who dares to trust Him fully .
On account of a severe famine, which in its
course carried away vast numbers of the people, I was
compelled to resort to hunting to procure food for
those under my care, and thus wasbroughtinto contact
with wild beasts more frequently, perhaps, than is
customary with missionaries even in Central Africa,
who as a rule have fheir hands far too full of loftier
tasks to spend their time in hunting, except merely to
supply their own larder.
126 Sketches from the
But under the influence of such life-tragedies as
this, recorded at the time, I shouldered my rifle
and sallied forth to do battle for the physical need in
order that I might meet the greater spiritual need.
11 Here are the little brother and sister of my boy
Kamau — as sweet children as one would wish to see; a
short time ago so plump and merry and full of laugh-
ter, but now, alas ! so pitifully weak and thin — mere
shadows of their former selves ! The laugh has died
away from their lips in the grim struggle for existence.
It would melt a heart of stone to see the little forms
grow thinner and weaker, and the great sad eyes grow
more sad and hollow. Of what use is it to preach the
gospel to such as these, gripped in the clutches of such
a hunger?"
While engaged in this business (hunting), I was
brought into some narrow places through encoun-
ters with lions and rhinoceroses, of which there are
great numbers in this region.
My first actual encounter with the "king of
beasts" was on this wise. A brother missionary , Mr.
Krieger and I were camping in a cave at the Athi
river. In the evening we went across the river — a
narrow shallow stream at that place, to get some game
Dark Continent. 127
for supper. We were stalking a herd of small ante-
lope, when they scurried off, and we saw four lions
jump up from the plain about 300 yards away and run
for cover where the river made a turn ahead of us.
We circled around toward camp, when just as we
came over a small rise, a lion cub jumped up right be-
fore us, and dashed away. Following him with our
eyes, to our amazement, there on the open plain not
250 yards away, lay a whole family of them.
We were in a precarious positon. Not a bush
or shelter of any description was nearer than the river,
and that was farther away than were the lions. See-
ing us, they sprang to their feet and began that
ominous pacing to and fro which hunters learn to in-
terpret as of hostile intent. The sun was just sinking —
a big red ball of fire — in the west, which made shooting
a matter of extreme uncertainty. We did not dare to
run, for that would have brought them upon us with
a rush. So we edged off slowly toward the river.
The male lion, a magnificent specimen, shook himself
and started after us. Every moment — and they seemed
like hours — we expected to see him charge us in real
earnest, but we prayed that God would keep him from
doing so. And He did ! Slowly but surely we made
128 Sketches from the
our way to the river, yet j ust as surely we saw the gap
lessening between us and our altogether too inquisitive
follower. But we did reach the river at last, and as
we descended the bank, we turned long enough to see
the lion stop as though surprised at our disappearance,
and then go back to his family and the evening hunt.
We heard them all night long as we lay in our little
cave, yet felt secure with the blazing camp-fire before
the entrance.
On one occasion during the famine, my amnuni-
tion became exhausted. I had no means of procuring
food now, unless it were by fishing, and the river was
over 20 miles distant. But there were serious obsta-
cles to this, for the natives have a horror of fish,
thinking they belong to the snake family. I over-
came this scruple however, and gathering my people
together, we set out for the river. Arriving there we
found a company of native troops in camp in charge
of a young officer, who I soon learned had but
recently come into the country, so was glad to have
company.
Having procured some ammunition from him, and
as we were both dependent upon our rifles for rations,
bJO
c
U
Dark Continent. 129
we spent a part of each day in hunting, incidentally
having some narrow escapes with our lives.
One evening two of our men came in in a great
fright, saying they had had a narrow escape from lions
just across the river. As the place indicated lay near
the path frequented by natives in their journeys to
and from Kikuyu, we determined, if possible, to get
rid of the intruders. Accordingly next morning we
set out with a few men, well armed.
We were crossing a ravine, and had started up
the opposite side, when we discovered five lions on a
rocky prominence jutting out from the hillside about
250 yards to our left. There was another rocky point
about 300 yards from the lions, and I urged that we
make a detour and come up behind this, which would
afford excellent shelter for us. But my companion,
not knowing the habits of these beasts, preferred to
take w^at seemed to be a shorter route to a clump of
trees on the crest of the ridge, to reach which we had
to pass up the hill in plain view of the lions.
As we started up, they began pacing up and
down on their rocky platform, in a nervous, excitable
manner that boded ill to us, lashing the rocks with.
their long tails, and now and then giving vent to sir
130 Sketches from the
pressed roars. We did not dare take our eyes from
thern for an instant. All was going well, when to our
great relief, the lioness, taking her three full-grown cubs
disappeared from view on the other side of the rocks.
She was the dangerous factor in the situation, and
now that that was eliminated I turned to see how near
we were to the trees. Judge my amazement when I
saw the way blocked by two huge rhinoceroses, which
had evidently came up in the meantime, and being
extremely short-sighted animals, had not seen us.
These huge brutes were forever curning up, when
least expected or wanted.
There was nothing to do but turn back. I had
just broken the intelligence to my companion, who
was still watching the lion — a big shaggy-maned
fellow, standing clearly outlined against the back-
ground of blue sky — when a blood-curdling roar fairly
lifted us from our feet, and we turned to see the lioness
dash down from the rocks, and come bounding across
the hillside toward us ! I have heard lions roar while
lying secure in my tent with camp-fires blazing
around, and have rather enjoyed it, but never any-
thing like this . With every leap — and they were tre-
mendous — she emitted that roar of defiance that made
Dark Continent. 131
the very rocks vibrate. Just for an instant we forgot
ourselves and started to run, but just as quickly saw
the folly of it, for we could not have saved ourselves,
and kneeling down, we began to fire at her. But she
proved a very uncertain target, consequently only one
bullet struck her, and that only slightly wounded
her.
The firing of the men — the two or three that
stood by us — was wonderful to behold ; they couldn't
have hit an elephant ! All my ammunition was soon
exhausted, then with empty rifle in one hand, and
hunting knife in the other, I lifted up that mightiest
of all weapons — prayer. Not a nicely formulated
prayer — there was not time for that, but just the
wordless expression of a desperate need. But it was
enough. The infuriated beast had gotten within
seventy yards when without any apparent cause — but
sGod — she suddenly turned at right angles and dashed
"away. The day of miracles past? Never! So long
as the God of miracles lives and reigns, so long will
he manifest His power to deliver His own from peril.
" But," you ask, " what became of the rhinoce-
roses ?" Well, they were evidently frightened by the
charging lioness or by the reports of our rifles, and ran
132 Sketches from the
away, for when we turned to look for them they were
nowhere to be seen.
We were not quite through with them yet, how-
ever. We were making our way across the plains in
the afternoon toward camp, having been joined by our
men and replenished with ammunition, when they,
having scented us some distance away, bore down upon
us with a rush. It is commonly believed that owing
to their huge, cumbersome forms, they travel very
slowly, but this fallacy is soon dispelled by a close
acquaintance, as I have several times proved, almost
to my undoing. Fifteen miles an hour is attained with
comparative ease despite their huge bulk.
Now we were out on the level plains, no shelter
within reaching distance. But we did find a novel
retreat made ready at our hand.
It was nothing less than a big hole burrowed in
the ground by a certain animal, and large enough to
contain the two of us, our men meanwhile having fled.
Into the hole we slid, and then with only head and
shoulders appearing, fired into the charging rhinos.
Every shot took effect, but owing to their tremendous
vitality, and armour-like hide which is an inch thick,
they seemed not to mind it at all. One of them finally
Dark Continent. 133
ran off, and the other, passing within twenty feet of
where we lay, eventually dropped some distance
farther on, within sight of camp.
i34 Sketches from the
CHAPTER X.
Another lion encounter — Up a tree — A dangerous predicament,
and the escape — A wounded lioness — Man-eaters. Anxious
days and nights — "The lion's share; what it is — A doubt that
nearly ended disastrously — A fortunate shot.
A GAIN the long journey to Kikuyu had been made,
and on the return journey Bro. Krieger accom-
panied me. The second day, late in the afternoon as
we were drawing near the station, that is to say with-
in an hour's walk, we came upon a herd of antelope
in the bush.
Knowing my people were in need of food, we
tried to bring one of them down, but only succeeded
in wounding one. The herd ran over a ridge before
us, and we followed as fast as the tall grass and our
weariness would allow— for we had tramped twenty
miles already. But when we reached the top of the
ridge, the antelope were nowhere visible.
As it was so late, and not wanting to be caught in
the bush at night, we relinquished further pursuit and
pushed on toward the station. We had not gone
more than 150 yards however, when we descried
what we thought were the antelope in a depression
Dark Continent. 135
about 200 yards in front. We kelt for a shot, but
had no sooner done so, than we rose very quickly, for
in that brief moment we were both impressed that our
presence was desired elsewhere. Our supposed ante-
lopes were lions ; and already they were moving
toward us, their low, hoarse growls sending a
chill through us. We did not dare to run — to shoot
would have been madness ; though it required all our
resolution to keep from doing both. Six full grown
animals and five cubs composed the group, the latter
adding very greatly to the danger of our situation.
We retraced our steps, the lions following us in
a zig-zag course, but steadily gaining upon us. Reach-
ing the crest of the ridge and disappearing on the op-
posite side we hastened our pace, but the lions, upon
losing sight of us, sprang forward and in a few
seconds had gained the ridge and only 90 yards behind
us.
By this time we had reached a little clump of
scrubby trees, into which we proceeded to climb as
quickly as possible. They were so small that two of
us could not get into one tree, so my companion took
one and I another. Neither of us could get very
high. I stood on a small limb not eight feet from the
i ^6 Sketches from the
o
ground, so small that it swayed threateningly beneath
my weight. There was nothing to hold on to, but
with one knee braced against a branch that shot up
from the limb on which I was standing, and the other foot
in the crotch of the tree, I managed to steady myself.
You ask what had become of the lions all this
time. Well, for some at first unaccountable reason,
they had stopped on the top of the ridge, and when we
finally got our bearings, we discovered that they had
pulled down the wounded antelope prior to our appear-
ance, and as it lay behind a clump of bushes, we had
not seen it.
Now we found ourselves in a perilous predicament,
entrapped there in the trees ; unable to get down
because one or other of the lions kept watch of us ;
not daring to risk a shot because they were partially
screened by bushes, and to have wounded one of them
meant our destruction. But worst of all it was near
sunset, and there being no twilight there, night falls
rapidly, and in the event of our being kept until dark-
ness set in, our case would be absolutely hopeless, for
they could easily have pulled us from our exposed
perches, eight feet being no sort of leap for a lion to
make.
Dark Continent. 137
For nearly half an hour they kept us there, while
they roared and fought over the carcase. It was a
thrilling experience, but withal the most valuable of
all my life, because of the consciousness of the abiding
presence of the Lord. Face to face with death, we
yet felt that we were ' ' garrisoned ' ' by Divine power
unto salvation.
Having devoured their prey, they came forth to
the charge in a solid body, in triangular form, led by
the largest of them ; and whereas they had been roar-
ing and fighting over the antelope, now there was not
a sound from them. The sun was just sinking, and in
harmony with the approaching night, an oppressive
silence took the place of the noisy demonstration which
had just ceased.
With every head erect, watching us in the trees,
noses bloody, jaws opening and closing suggestively,
and with perfect deliberation they slowly advanced
toward us.
Unfortunately, my companion was unable to see
them at first, owing to a bush which obstructed his
view, so he requested me to wait until he too could
see them. Knowing that that first shot probably
meant life or death to us, we waited until they had
138 Sketches from the
advanced to within seventy yards before firing. At
the first shot the leader fell ; this checked them, and
before they could advance a second round brought
down another. This was too much for them and they
began to retreat toward the bush from whence they had
come. But we managed to get in a third volley, and
another came down. As the last one disappeared in the
bush, we hastily swung from our precarious perches
and made for the nearest path and home; and none too
soon either, for in five minutes it was so dark we
could not see the path before us.
Next morning, accompanied by Bro. Bangert, we
went out and secured the hides, and incidentally had
an experience with the wounded lioness, only two
having been killed the night before. While we were
looking at the fallen beasts, one of our men came
running up, saying that the wounded one was in the
grass near by. Hastily consulting among ourselves,
we decided that it was worth our while to run some
risk to dispose of her, for, if she were so badly wounded
that she could not secure game, she might turn into a
man eater, and so become a menace to the whole region.
During the construction of the Mombassa- Vic-
toria Lake railway, scores of native workmen and
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several white men were carried off by these blood-
thirsty beasts. A reign of terror lasting for months,
permitted no sense of security to any of the thousands
engaged in the work. I made a trip to the coast just
when the trouble was at its height, taking Miss Lind-
berg and Mrs. Allan — whose husband had j ust died,
and both of whom were broken in health, to take a
homeward-bound steamer. Upon making our last
camp before reaching the railroad, having walked a
hundred miles, we learned that that very morning, a
man had been carried off from the path over which we
would have to go next day. And as we lay that night
and heard the deep- toned roars in the bush around us,
the experience was not altogether reassuring. But
the ladies were kept in a remarkable manner, notwith-
standing their weak physical condition and the nerve-
racking experiences they had just passed through.
They being carried in hammocks were kept close
together in the morning, I, with my rifle walking at
their side,but we were not molested.
That day we went a few miles down the line on
the engine to where we were to pitch camp and await
a construction train to carry us further. I disliked to
pitch camp in such an exposed position, but there
140 Sketches from the
seemed to be no other course open, so was about to do
it, when the Gen'l Traffic Manager of the Road came
down with his private car and placed it at our diposal.
You will see the significance of this, when I say that
two nights later, two native men were taken out of an
open car at that very spot, one of them devoured and
the other killed by a stroke from the lion's paw.
The next day we made a few miles further, and
that night and for several succeeding nights, until we
finally reached the coast, we had huge fires blazing
and sentinels posted, while I made the rounds every
hour, so imminent was the danger.
A man-eater, by the way, is not a distinct species
of lion, but simply one that has gotten a taste of
human flesh, and has been able to gratify that taste a
number of times in succession until the taste is set, so
to speak, and thereafter he will run any risk in order
to satisfy that desire. They become peculiarly bold
and ferocious, for whereas under ordinary circum-
stances a circle of good camp-fires is sufficient guar-
anty of safety, a genuine man-eater will not hesitate
to spring right into the midst of a camp thus
protected, and with an additional barrier in the shape
of an eight foot hedge, in his frenzy for human prey.
Dark Continent. 141
It can be seen how important it was in our
encounter with the wounded lioness, to get rid of such
a possibility. Accordingly, we advanced cautiously
toward the place indicated, and as we approached, saw
the object of our search run into a thick copse. One
good sized tree stood within forty yards of the copse,
and reaching it we could hear the wounded animal
growling but could not see her. Mr. Bangert was
sent up the tree to discover her if possible, and fire upon
her. But he could not see her, so thick was the bush.
Then it was arranged that Mr. Kreiger fire into
the bush in the direction from whence the sounds
emanated, and if he hit her, well — and if not he might
drive her out of cover and give us a chance to bring
her down. A fierce growl and a crackling of the bush
followed the shot, but instead of coming toward us
she went out on the other side, and when we ran
up it was to see her leaping over the tall grass at a
good speed, though one hind leg swung helpless.
We considered her abundantly able to take care of
herself, so did not go any farther, but returned and
secured the hides of the others which we keep as me-
mentoes of a very trying experience and gracious
deliverance.
142 Sketches from the
I might remark here in passing that the king of
beasts has a spouse worthy of him in every particular;
indeed the lioness is considered by far the more dan-
gerous of the two. It is a fact that the female does
most of the work — a la native, you see — pulls down
most of the prey, after which the majestic monarch of
the plains coolly appropriates the feast to himself,
and his mate must fight for what she gets, until he is
satisfied and retires. You will perhaps recognize in
this a reason for the familiar expression, " the lion's
share, ' ' used when one person gets the larger end of a
transaction over another.
An encounter with a rhinoceros once nearly
ended my career as a missionary. I was out with my
people on one of our, at that time, frequent hunting
trips up in the mountain range. My head-man, Ki-
kuvi, and I had become separated from the rest of the
party. We were crossing a ravine the sides of which
were quite precipitous, and through which was a
swamp filled with thick swamp-grass. About half way
down the hill-side, Kikuvi suddenly stopped, pointed
to a clump of bushes on the opposite side and said,
'* Bwana ! Mbuzya huko !" (master, rhinoceros
yonder.) I looked carefully but could distin-
Dark Continent. 143
guish nothing that looked like an animal, only a big
something partially screened by the bushes, which I
thought was a large boulder, many of which were lying
about on the mountain-side.
Meanwnile we had been moving down hill, and as
there had been no movement in the bush to indicate
life, I said to him, "Ni ivia tu, " (it is only a rock).
But he insisted it was a rhinoceros, and I asked him
what made him so certain. He replied that he had
heard the " rhinoceros bird," as he called it, a kind of
bird which hovers round these huge beasts con-
tinually, and where the one is, the other is almost
certain to be found.
But I had not seen or heard the birds, so concluded
he must be mistaken. "We will go across the
swamp, " said I, and suiting the action to the word,
started in. If I had known what I did a few moments
later, nothing could have persuaded me to cross that
swamp. But as it was we made no pretense of going
carefully.
When we reached the other side we were within
twenty yards of the bush, and still there was no sort
of movement therein: still only the appearance of a big
rock screened by the bushes. A little bit of a tree
i44 Sketches from the
stood within ten yards, and to this we made our way.
No sooner had we reached it than that silent bush
woke into life, and Kikuvi's confidence was found to
have been well-grounded.
Even then I could not tell which was head or tail
of the animal. All I knew was that there was an
enormous brute there within thirty feet, and he was
getting ready to charge ! Kikuvi pointed to an
opening in the bush where the body was visible and
said, "that's his shoulder, master!" and I, raising my
rifle, and guessing where his heart ought to be, if it
were indeed his shoulder, prayed for help and fired.
Instantly there was a snort, or a series of them,
as the huge beast tore out of the bush and came
straight for us. There were the two of us behind the
wee bit of a tree, which did not begin to hide us !
The question uppermost in our minds was, "which side
of the tree will he go ?' ' However for a few seconds
he seemed bent upon- bowling us over, tree and all, for
he did not swerve until he got within ten feet of
us. I stood next to the tree, my black man directly
behind me, both of us poised, ready to spring to one
side or the other the moment that big, ugly form indi-
cated its preference. The moment he turned slightly
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Dark Continent. 145
to the right, we whirled around in the opposite direc-
tion just in time to escape him, for I could have
put my hand on him as he passed us. I saw he was
badly wounded, and for that reason did not turn on
us, but crashed through the bush, and when we
followed a few minutes later, we found him lying dead
on the hill-side about seventy yards away.
That night the natives camped beside the carcase,
and next morning cut it up and brought it into the
station, where it was portioned out among the hungry
people.
Thus did the Lord enable us, by meeting the
merely physical need, to pave the way for the supply
of the soul need. We literally shot our way into the
hearts of the people, not by sacrificing them, but by
saving them. Soon these once suspicious, distrustful,
treacherous natives, began to ask if they might not
build near the station, for there, said they, there is no
" Mulonzo, " (trouble). So the foundations were
laid for a blessed work for God, which shall not end
untH the last black slave of superstition has heard of
Jesus, the L,amb of God, who taketh away the sin of
the world.
146 Sketches from the
INDUSTRIAL MISSIONS.
We have striven in the foregoing pages to tell as
clearly as possible, the actual condition of native life in
East Central Africa. We have seen their deep degrada-
tion ; we have marked the all but hopeless stalling of
every noble impulse ; and we have discovered too,
that deep down beneath the surface of these lives,
there is capacity for developement, there is large hope
of something worthy our utmost endeavor ; these lives
may become transformed and quickened by the Spirit
of God into earnest, consistent, helpful, Christian men
and women.
Now for a little while, let us consider carefully
just what we mean by the term "Industrial Missions"
in connection with missionary effort in Africa. In
the first place let us clear the ground somewhat, by
coming to an understanding of terms.
First of all, what is said here relates to only one
field out of the many, and that field possessing very
peculiar and distinctive features, presenting just as'
peculiar and distinctive problems for solution. Let us
Dark Continent. 147
see then, that the method is very closely related to the
field and the need. Industrial missionary effort has
been condemned by secretaries and others, who, while
they have visited some great fields in round-the-world
tours, have as a rule, by some strange oversight, passed
Africa by on the other side. They have a working
knowledge of conditions in India, China and other
fields, which is thoroughly to be desired, but we hold
that it is most unjust to insist that this knowledge
shall determine the policy of work in a field so widely
divergent in every sense as is Africa.
Again let us determine the aim of missionary
work in Africa. Unquestionably the supreme and
determining aim — that to which all else must be sub-
ordinated — is evangelism — preaching the gospel for a
witness to all people.
We do not forget that what the world needs first
and above all, is not changed social conditions, but
Christ. Except this be the coyitrolling aim, all our
missionary effort must fall flat, and fail utterly of its
purpose. Changed environment does not necessarily
lead to changed hearts, but there never can be a real
change of heart that is not followed by a radical clean-
148 Sketches from the
sing of the social conditions which immediately encom-
pass it.
But is this all ? Ought we not to aim at some-
thing more than this, namely, the creation of a self-
supporting, self-propagating native church? If so,
how can the end be attained most effectively ?
The farmer does not sow his seed and then leave
it to a precarious existence — a struggle against rocks,
and weeds and thistles ; he prepares an e?iviro?ime?it for
it, because he wants not merely a harvest, but a
heallhy harvest of good, plump, solid grain. So he
takes out the stones and weeds, and gives the strug-
gling seed a fighting chance for its life.
Now that is precisely what we mean by Industrial
Missionary work. Not converts merely, but strojig,
healthy converts : not life merely, but enough life to
propagate itself, a life that can stretch its glowing,
quickening self, upon the dead selves around it, and
make them feel. We mean to help the African so to
change the conditions that surround him, as to realize
the highest possible ideal in the christian life, and so
make him a positive force in the advancement of the
Kingdom of Christ, rather than a mere negative
adherent. Instead of giving him the blessed truth of
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Dark Continent. 149
God, and then leaving him to struggle against an
environment that throttles his best effort, and floors
him again and again, we simply aim to give him a
good honest chance, by removing as far as lies in our
power, the limitations that confine him : in other
words, "loose him" — take off the grave-clothes, the
wrappings of his dead past — " and let him go. "
Manifestly in such fields as India, China, or
Turkey, where social conditions are either buttressed
by law, or imposed by religion, it would be unwise
and dangerous, as well as useless, to antagonize them
by assailing them directly. Here the steady procla-
mation of the Gospel, and the acceptance of Christ in
individual lives must be left to work itself out in the
social environment.
But in Central Africa, we meet with entirely
unique conditions. Here we have no semi-civilized
peoples, with subtle philosophies, social structures based
upon law and industries some of'them of a high order.
We do have barbarism pure and simple, with its social
anarchy, lawlessness, and consequently instability of
character; we have disgusting practices in private; and
degrading, demoralizing conditions in social life, but
without the same patriotic or religious motives which
150 Sketches from the
obtain in other lands. Manual labor is a disgrace,
consequently womanhood is reduced to servitude,
doomed to drudgery, a mere beast of burden. There-
fore, since idleness and ignorance are the twin parents
of crime, it can scarcely be wondered at, that Africa's
annals furnish one long tale of frightful cruelty, un-
paralleled suffering, and hideous atrocity.
If it is true that ' ' the time to begin the training
of a child is two hundred years before it is born,"
then it must follow if we are to realize our aim of a
self-supporting, self-propagating native church from
such material, the regenerate units who are to com-
pose that church must from the first be aided in the
direction of a responsible manhood ; lost will-power
must be retrieved ; and the usually weak, vacillating
character re-enforced by means of a careful training in
habits of industry.
How can the African bear another's burden, when
he does not bear his own ? By training him in habits
of industry, we create in him a stability of character
otherwise impossible, and without which he will ever
be vacillating and unreliable; a wave driven by the
wind and tossed ; a prey to every evil passion ; a mel-
ancholy picture of the house swept and garnished, only
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Dark Continent. 151
to be possessed again by seven other devils worse than
the first.
There is no reason why ' ' mission boys ' ' should
be looked upon as they are in too many cases — as
spoiled and lazy, thinking only of getting into Euro-
pean clothing, and speaking execrable English. Surely
it is an injustice to them, and a dishonor to Christianity
not to show them the way to help themselves to a
nobler, truer manhood which must repudiate these
unworthy suggestions.
In more ways than one does the artizan missionary
aid in the work of evangelizing barbarous people. Let
me give a practical illustration : I was making a table;
everything but the top, which was made from my
" chop boxes, " had to be hewn out from the rough
timber by hand. Kikuvi watched me carefully, and
his surprise increased, until finally the table stood com-
plete before him. The whole proceeding had been
wonderful to him. u I see a new thing to-day, " said
he, ' ' I thought God made these things and gave them
to you white men, but now I see you do it yourselves. "
It was but the work of a moment to refer him to the
astonishing fact, that once our ancestors were savages
too, but when we heard of the true God, and obeyed
152 Sketches from the
Him, we became strong and wise to do these things.
Instantly the query came, "If you have done this,
why cannot we? So the making of a table becomes
the occasion of an effective gospel message.
With the people of a single tribe scattered in
families over a territory many thousands of square
miles in extent, it is simply impossible with the present
force of workers, to compass the work. The only prac-
ticable way — and in the end it will prove to be the
quickest way — to evangelize Africa is to establish, say
in each of the larger tribes, one large industrial mission
settlement. The land is fertile — utilize it ; it will pro-
vide food, reduce expenditures, and further, may go
a long way toward solving the vexed problem of mis-
sionary support. Employ here large bodies of natives
in agriculture, and simple, useful handicraft.
Experience has shown the writer, that when once
their confidence is gained, they are quite ready to
work for the white man, and especially the missionary .
Now then, you have a body of people directly under
your influence day by day ; the message of to-day is
going to be followed by the message of tomorrow, and
you have a reasonable assurance that the seed will
take root. Why do you have revivals and weeks of
Dark Continent. 153
prayer in the home lands? Just because it has been
demonstrated beyond a doubt, that when people hear
the gospel continuously for a given length of time,
they are more likely to consider its claims seriously,
than if they heard it only at intervals of even a week.
Human nature is the same in Africa as in America,
only the difficulties are multiplied. Why then should
we not expect speedier results and, because of the
manual training involved, more permanent results,
from such a plan than from the itinerating plan ?
Africa must be won by the African, hence to train
native evangelists and place them in out-stations under
missionary supervision, seems to be the best course to
pursue, in view of the inadequacy of the force of mis-
sionaries, and the insufficiency of funds. In this way
we conserve our force and accomplish by far the
greater good in the least possible time, and that too,
with greater prospect of permanency.
"The Friend's Africa Industrial Mission" has
been formed with the object of putting into effect the
above principles in a mission settlement to be founded
near Lake Victoria Nyanza in East Central Africa.
( see map. )
The work will doubtless be divided into four de-
154 Sketches from the
partments, namely : evangelistic, medical, educational
and industrial. Each department will be under the
direction of missionaries thoroughly trained for this
special service.
While world powers are dissecting the Dark Con-
tinent for commercial advantage, we propose for the
honor of our King, and in His Name, to stake out a
claim ! Richer ore than Klondike gold, fairer jewels
than Kimberly diamonds await the prospector for soul-
treasure ! The King desires them — we will bring
them to Him.
1 4 Is true freedom but to break
Fetters for our own dear sake ;
And with leathern hearts forget,
That we owe mankind a debt ?
No ! true freedom is to share
All the chains our brothers wear ;
And with heart and hand to be
Earnest to make others free. "
Dark Continent. 155
A QUESTION OF RIGHTS.
4 'Speak, History ! Who are life's victors? Unroll
thy long annals and say
Are they those whom the world calied victors,
who won the success of a day ?
The martyrs or Nero ? The Spartans who fell at
Thermopylae's tryst,
Or the Persians and Xerxes? His judges or
Socrates ! Pilate or Christ ?' '
11 Save thyself and us, " cried the impenitent thief
as he swung beside the dying Son of God. And this
has in large measure come to be the standard of effort
and giving for the world's evangelization and the ameli-
oration of humanity's woes. If we can do anything to
silence the cry of human distress without inconven-
iencing ourselves; if we can save others and at the
same time spare ourselves: if we did not have to go
out of our way to minister to the bruised and suffering
unfortunates that line the higways of life, well.
But the thought of sacrifice is repulsive as a prac-
tical thing, beautiful and sublime tho it be as a peror-
ation from the pulpit. Peter-like, we are forever dis-
appointing our Lord and dishonoring our profession
156 Sketches from the
by protestations against the necessity of giving up our
rights for others. Do we forget that we have 710 rights
ourselves to give up? Was not the question of
1 ' rights ' ' settled in favor of Jesus Christ when He
took our place, paid our debts, established our credit,
and gave us whatever standing we possess in the
world ? ' ' Not your own — bought with a price ; ' ' does
not this settle once and for all, this question for the
christian ? Whatever rights I have — and they are all
His gift — must henceforth be held at His call.
( ' Pity thyself, ' ' says Peter when the Lord first
broached the startling news of His impending death to
His disciples. Yet Peter-he who had declared his
belief in the Messiahship of Christ, the first to dis-
cover the real identity of their Lord — so far misses the
real purport of that mysterious life as to upbraid His
Lord when He mentions the thought of suffering in
connection with His coming Kingdom. Let self-pity
come in, and that moment we cut the nerve of success-
ful service. Naught but heroic renunciation of self
for the sake of other selves will meet the demands of a
suffering world. More "lost lives" would mean
more saved souls. More seed scattered would mean a
richer harvest.
Dark Continent. 157
"Save thyself and us !" But that is just what
the Son of God could not do. Himself and them: not
even the exercise of His divine power could have
wrought that. He might have saved Himself, but if
He had, the world would have been plunged in end-
less night — the last ray of hope extinguished. Would
He do it ? The pain was wrenching His body; the
agony was inexpressible, and His human nature
might have given way under the fearful strain.
What if it should ? What if He had considered His
rights as against the rights of these miserable wretch-
es that hung at His side, jeering, cursing, railing
upon Him? There was the justice of God yet unsat-
isfied, the divine judgment still impending against
the sinner. The blow against sin must strike some-
where : it must be either the sinner or the sinner's
substitute. The choice lay between saving Himself
and saving them ; one or the other must be sacrificed ;
one only could be saved.
He choose to save them by the sacrifice of Himself.
He drank the bitter cup to the dregs ! He suffered
that keenest of all anguish — alienation from the
Father's face ; for the first time in all the eternity of
His existence failing to meet the Father's smile ! He
158 Sketches from the
became as though He were sin ; therefore an outcast
from the presence of the Holy One ! Rejected of men,
for a time forsaken of God, behold, the Son of man
treads the wine press alone ! Alone. Oh the wonder
of it ! Come, ye ease-loving christians, bring your
plummet and fathom the depth of that alcneness! Alas!
the well is deep and ye have nothing to draw with.
Loneliness such as this, thy soul may never know.
Alone ! That the guilty sinner'swhose place He took
might never be alone !
"He saved others, Himself he cannot save."
The very fact of His having come to save others pre-
cludes the possibility of His saving Himself.
Nor did God spare His only Son. Having volun-
tarily taken the sinners place He was treated as a
sinner, that we, if we believe on Him might never be
so treated. He tasted death in a sense in which we
never could, and that too for every man. He is the
propitiation for the whole world.
And did you hear what He said : "As thou
Father has sent me into the world, even so have I also
sent them into the world ? ' ' Eve?i so, yet we continue
to consult self rather than God : our convenience
rather than their necessity : expediency rather than
Dark Continent. 159
duty. Busied about many things, we have missed
the one important thing. We tithe mint and anise and
cummin, and leave undone the weightier matters, justice
and mercy. Have ye not read, "I will have mercy and
not sacrifice?" God cares more, infinitely more for
the spirit of the sacrifice than for the sacrifice itself.
God help us ! We are so busily engaged in saving
ourselves — saving our health, saving our strength, sav-
ing our time, saving our bank accounts — that we have
scarcely time to consider the souls of men ! So the
great mass of Christless humanity, 800 millions strong,
stagger hopelessly along under the stupefying drugs
of superstition, or stumble blindly in the dark, ignor-
ant in a world flooded with light and knowledge !
And they are likely to continue stumbling and stag-
gering for centuries to come, if present hap-
hazard methods continue.
The gigantic business of self-preservation has
swallowed up or almost effaced the business of saving
others. I grant you that "self-preservation is the
first law of nature, " but you shall not, indeed 3-ou
cannot make it a law of grace. Nature says "pity
thyself," grace says "deny thyself." Nature says
" My desire, " grace says " His will. "
160 Sketches from the Dark Continent.
Hands full, too full to bear the bread of life to
starving souls: eyes full — so full of the dust of earthly
visions that they fail to see the shepherdless multi-
tudes ; ears full, so full of the rattle and roar of com-
mercialism that the sob of human lives adrift in the
night never reaches them : hearts full, so full of the
world and its spirit that heathendom's shivering nak-
edness wrings no response, unless it be a shrug or a
sneer. God help us ! Does Gethsemane with its
bloody sweat, and the judgment hall with its crown
of thorns and scourge, and Calvary with its cross and
broken heart, mean no more to us than this ? Are
these but the symbols of a creed, or do they stand for
a life to be lived out before men ? Shall we forever
crucify the Son of God afresh on the cross of our
convenience? God forbid.
THE END.
JUL 26 1901
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