Mtesa

“ I said further, that should Mtesa act up to my desires, I would then know he was my friend, and other white men would not fear to enter Uganda; but if he acted otherwise, they would fear lest he should imprison them, or seize their property of their men. If these deserters escaped punishment, no white men would ever dare trust their lives with such men again. The officer said he should be afraid to deliver such a message to Mtesa direct; but he certainly would tell the queen every word of it, which would be even more efficacious. ”

“ Mtesa has impressed me as being an intelligent and distinguished prince, who, if aided in time by virtuous philanthropists, will do more for Central Africa than fifty years of gospel teaching, unaided by such authority, can do. I think I see in him the light that shall lighten the darkness of this benighted region; a prince well worthy the most hearty sympathies that Europe can give him. In this man I see the possible fruition of Livingstone's hopes, for with his aid the civilization of equatorial Africa becomes feasible. ”

“ Kamrasi's reply now arrived; it was to the following effect:—"Tell my children, the Waganda, they were never turned out of Unyoro by my orders: if they wish to go to Gani, they can do so; but, first of all, they must return to Mtesa, and ask him to deliver up all of Bana's men." I answered, "No; if any one of those scoundrels who has deserted me ever dares show his face to me again, I will shoot him like a dog. Moreover, I want Mtesa to take their guns from them, and, without taking life, to transport them all to an island on the N'yanza, where they can spend their days in growing plantains ”

“ What a field and harvest ripe for the sickle of civilization! Mtesa would give him anything he desired—houses, lands, cattle, ivory, etc.; he might call a province his own in one day. It is not the mere preacher, however, that is wanted here. The bishops of Great Britain collected, with all the classic youth of Oxford and Cambridge, would effect nothing by mere talk with the intelligent people of Uganda. ”

“ A newcomer, especially if he had a large caravan, was always the favorite of the hour. It is not difficult for any one to enter Uganda, but to get away again is no easy task, unless he is going for a fresh supply of goods. Mtesa liked Europeans and Arabs to be present at his court ”

“ I need be under no apprehensions about the road to the coast, for he would give me as many men as I liked; and, fearing I might be short of powder, he had sent some with the Wanguana. Both Wanguana were by the king given women for their services, and an old tin cartridge-box represented Mtesa's card, it being an article of European manufacture, which, if found in the possession of any Mganda, would be certain death to him. Finally, all the houses and plantains where my men were wounded had been confiscated. ”

“ The commander-in-chief then added, as to Kasoro's wish to accompany me, "If Mtesa will send another time one of his people whose life he wishes sacrificed on the journey, or tells, Here is a man whom I wish you to send to Gani at all hazards, and without responsibility for his life on our part, we will be very glad to send him; but as we are at war with the Gani people continually, there will be no security for a Mganda's life there." ”

“ Mtesa has no right to order me out of another man's house, to be an enemy with one whose friendship I desire. I am not only in honour bound to speak with Kamrasi, but I am also bound to carry out the orders of my country just as much as you are yours; moreover, I have invited Petherick to come to Kamrasi's by a letter from Karague, and it would be ill-becoming in me to desert him in the hands of an enemy, as he would then certainly find Kamrasi to be if I went back now. ”

“ If I sent Msalima, he would be kept ten years on the road. If I went to the lake Luta Nzige, God only knows when he would let me come back; and now, for once and for all, I wished to sacrifice my property, and leave the countries of black kings; for what Kamrasi had done, Mtesa had done likewise, detaining the two men I detached on a friendly mission, which made me fear to send any more and inquire after my guns, lest he should seize them likewise. I would stay no longer among such people. ”

“ He said it would take a month to go in boats from Kira, the most easterly district in Uganda, to Masai, where there is another N'yanza, joined by a strait to the big N'yanza, which king Mtesa's boats frequent for salt; but the same distance could be accomplished in four days overland, and three days afterwards by boat. The queen, after keeping us all day waiting, sent three bunches of plantains and a pot of pombe, with a message that she was too tired to receive visitors, and hoped we would call another day. ”

“ Leviathan in the African jungle is not easily tamed, and the efforts which would overcome the barbarism which has for ages defied civilization, and even discovery, will test the “perseverance of the saints.”
In the missions growing out of the new impulse for Tropical Africa discouragement and trial have been nearly everywhere encountered. Of the sixteen missionaries sent so promptly by the Church Missionary Society to establish the mission in Mtesa’s kingdom, some have died, some have returned on account of sickness, and the whole work is now in abeyance. ”

“ On February 19, Mtésa, the King of Uganda, sent his pages to announce a levée at the palace in my honour. I prepared for my presentation at court in my best, but cut a sorry figure in comparison with the dressy Waganda. The preliminary ceremonies were so dilatory, that I allowed five minutes to the court to give me a proper reception, saying if it were not conceded, I would then walk away. My men feared for me, as they did not know what a "savage" king would do in case I carried out my threat ”

“ The Baganda already here said that most of the new-comers were slaves, and would be sold for cloths. Extolling the size of Mtesa's country, they say it would take a year to go across it. When I joked them about it, they explained that a year meant five months, three of rain, two of dry, then rain again. Went over to apply medicine to Nkasiwa's neck to heal the outside; the inside is benefited somewhat, but the power will probably remain incomplete, as it now is.
3rd August, 1872.—Visited Salem bin Seff, who is ill of fever. They are hospitable men. ”

“ King M'tesa was himself not only a slave-trader but a slave-raider. He sent his fierce gangs of warriors out to raid a tribe away in the hills to the north. They would dash into a village, slay the men, and drag the boys and girls and women back to M'tesa as slaves. The bronze-skinned boy, Lugalama, was a young slave who had been captured on one of these bloodthirsty raids. And M'tesa, who often sent out his executioners to slay his own people by the hundred to please the dreaded and horrible god of small-pox, would also sell his people by the hundred to get guns for his soldiers. ”

“ Assaba is the residence of the Agent-general of the Company, and there is a hospital there for the use of the employés. When the French mission of the Pères du Saint Esprit left Lokodja it established itself at Assaba.
[489] A missionary was waiting for us when we landed, and I went at once to his house. The situation is beautiful enough, but what a hard life the Fathers lead! They are, I believe, rather harassed by the Company, as much because they are French as because they are Catholic, and as a result their tale of converts is not very long. ”

“ There is always a charm to us connected with the investigation of a country the name of which conveys nothing to anybody, and which is a blank on the map. This, I think, was one of the chief incentives to us to accept the diplomatic post of presenting a gift of forty pounds’ worth of goods from the Chartered Company to the chief ’Mtoko. ”

“ It has become necessary for a time to employ them elsewhere, but their studies are not wholly interrupted, while the great object of becoming familiar with the details of Mission work in East Africa is only being the more completely carried out. ”

“ Teachers, need for native, 300; teaching, 303 Title falls to Satu, 131; ceremony of giving the, 174 Titles of King’s attendants, 145 Toilet before meals, 28; before entering a town, 86 Tolls for bridges, 234 Tonzeka receives Satu, 87; gives him good entertainment, 90; how to settle a palaver, 91; defends the white teacher, 93-97; is disturbed by the teaching, 95; takes Satu to the white teacher, 106 Trade goods taken for rubber, ivory, etc., 13 Trading, 230; fetish for helping, 231; arrival of traders, 234 Treatment of native chief, 273 Tumbu sold for food, 43 ”

“ In 1890 we opened our Mission station at Monsembe, but previous to our arrival the natives had not had sufficient intercourse with white people either to increase their arts and industries or even to modify them by the introduction of new methods or new tools. ”

“ The news of what we were [209] doing in Vònizòngo spread, and the subject of teaching the adult adherents to read, that they might be able to read the Bible for themselves, was brought before the church at the ‘union meetings.’ This stimulated our people again, and they worked eagerly until, first the epidemic, and then another conscription for the army, broke up nearly all the evening classes for a time ”

“ He thought it better to be a live king than a dead induna.
(Umzilikazi: More commonly, but quite erroneously, known as Mosilekatse.)
“It befell that he dropped out of favour with the great King; for being, though young, one of the first fighting chiefs among the Amazulu, he soon gathered to himself an immense following. To him, too, came my father, Ntelani, and many others who loved not the House which had deposed the tribe of Umtetwa, the royal House of Dingiswayo, which was our own. Then Tshaka grew jealous, as he ever did when he saw one of his chiefs increase in power and influence. ”

“ This reply was received by my successor, Colonel Gordon, and was forwarded to the Khedive, as a proof of the effect of the expedition under my command, in opening through postal communication in the heart of Africa. People who are unacquainted with the difficulties of Africa cannot sufficiently appreciate this grand result. The intelligent king, M'tese, should receive a present from our government, as a reward for having exerted himself to assist an English consul in distress. ”

“ Surely, of all the institutions of this country which are the least necessary for men of this description, and I declare my belief that it is a true description of the people of Malta, I may venture to assert a free press is that one institution. I will not dispute that hereafter much good may arise from a free press, but education is much more necessary for the people of Malta. ”

“ Metz and one of the sisters have been mediums more than thirty years, through whom one spirit speaks and writes. This spirit guides the society in spiritual and temporal matters, and they have never been disappointed in his counsels for their welfare. ”

“ The chief of this village, being a man of no family, paid homage to Satu, and gave him and the other head men houses for the night, but the ordinary members of the party slept in the open. Satu also received from the chief presents of different kinds of food, as bunches of plantain, baskets of cassava flour, a few fowls, and two demijohns of palm-wine, which was fizzing loudly with fermentation and was strong enough to make 76them drunk, only fortunately there was not enough of it. ”

“ Malta contains a population of 100,000 persons, for whom I entertain the highest respect and regard, being convinced that her majesty has no better or more devoted subjects than they are. It is the duty of government, and the duty of this house, as far as it can, to superintend the good government of the people of Malta—a people who talk the Maltese language, and the Maltese language alone—a people, of whom not one in 500 can read a line. ”

“ That extreme and deliberate care is demanded in the selection of missionaries to Africa, in respect both to physical health and thorough character. 5. That when such selections have been made, our missionaries should be better equipped and provided for than they have been in the past, for efficient and progressive work. A false economy has involved too much loss. The supporters of the Association have only need of intelligent and exact information to see and remedy this defect. A mission steamer for the Mendi work is greatly needed to save time, health, labor, and in the end, money. ”

“ I know eleven missionary societies working in West Africa, and in most of those societies there is need of a policy based upon reality versus romance. In most of them the missionaries agree that the stations are seriously undermanned. I know one mission station at least which has been opened for more than sixty-five continuous years, and missionaries are still there without the least likelihood of their moving on; for the simple reason that the station has been so undermanned in all these years that they have not yet trained a native ministry ”

“ It becomes, therefore, a very necessary thing to give men an opportunity of testing their health and their fitness for the work without robbing them of valuable time. This our Mission pupil scheme specially provides for, by occupying, in mingled study and work at Zanzibar, the years between sixteen and twenty, which a young man with a Missionary vocation finds it so difficult in England to employ to any advantage. While the Missionaries of the future are thus growing up, we must have temporary help from special English sources. ”