APPENDIX
NOTE A.—[P. 55.]
The German Annexation
The following passage taken from the Report of the Baptist Missionary Society, May, 1885, states the case succinctly:—
“For many years past the Committee of the Society have indulged the hope that a favourable response would be returned by the British Government to the repeated appeals from the chiefs and headmen of the Cameroons district that their country might be taken under the government and protection of the English Crown, and when sending in memorials to successive Governments asking the same favour for the Society’s settlement of Victoria and the adjacent district belonging absolutely to the Mission, the Committee have frequently pleaded on behalf of the Dualla people also.
“With regard to the Cameroons, however, all such expectations must be finally abandoned, as the district is now under German authority, the whole country having been annexed to the German Empire in August, 1884. The story of how this was brought about is so plainly told in a recent Blue Book presented in both Houses of Parliament, and entitled ‘Africa, No. 1, 1885. Correspondence respecting affairs in the Cameroons,’ that further reference to it here is unnecessary.
“The Committee, however, cannot refrain from placing on record their sincere regret that the British Government so long delayed taking action in response to the numerous appeals of the Cameroon chiefs and peoples, as but for this delay recent painful and disastrous events might altogether have been avoided, and the often expressed desires of the Dualla peoples complied with.
“Nor is the recent annexation of the settlement of Victoria by the British Government likely to be attended with any real advantage to the dwellers there, if reported concessions of surrounding territory by the English Government to Germany be a fact; as by such arrangement the small township and territory belonging absolutely to the Mission will be completely environed by German possessions, and trade with the interior rendered practically valueless in consequence of restrictive and almost prohibitive duties and exactions.
“The outlook at present is dark in the extreme, and it appears more than probable that the work of the Society on the West Coast, rendered so dear to the denomination by the sacrifice of many noble lives and the outlay of large sums of money, may have to be relinquished.
“Should this eventually prove needful, the Committee earnestly hope that the work there may be carried on by some Evangelical German Missionary organisation, whose agents may have the joy of reaping a rich harvest from the toils, the tears, and the seed-sowing of devoted workers, many of whom have fallen asleep.
“Under present circumstances, however, and while negotiations are being carried on with Her Majesty’s Government by the Committee, it would be premature to forecast the future, or take any definite steps in the matter.
“The Committee are devoting to this painful business their constant and careful attention, and they earnestly invite friends of the Society to unite in special prayer on their behalf, that they may be Divinely guided to such issues as shall best promote the glory of God and the truest welfare of the peoples of the West Coast.”
The apprehensions of the Committee were realised, and in 1887 the stations on the Cameroons River and at Victoria were handed over to the Basle Mission.
NOTE B.—[P. 110.]
Kongo and Congo
The ancient kingdom, of which San Salvador was the capital, was the kingdom of Kongo. And the language of the Lower Congo region, of which Dr. Bentley wrote the grammar and dictionary, and into which he translated the New Testament, is the Kongo language. The San Salvador district is spoken of by the natives as Kongo. Hence when Mr. and Mrs. Lewis were departing for Kibokolo, they were said to be leaving Kongo. The distinction between Congo and Kongo is not always observed, but the reader will understand, when he meets the “K” spelling, that it is not used in error.
NOTE C.—[P. 134.]
“Concerning the Collection”
It may perhaps not be quite superfluous to inform the reader that the pig was duly paid for, and its price placed in the treasury, before it was eaten at the Mission Christmas feast. Obviously all the other items of this strange collection must needs be in like fashion turned into money, for transmission to London. Otherwise Mr. Baynes and his staff would have been decidedly embarrassed by the receipt of a consignment of goods, including a very dead pig, a keg of gunpowder, and all the rest of it.
NOTE D.—[P. 168.]
The Old Cathedral
The Portuguese discovered the Congo River in 1482, and in course of time San Salvador became the centre of a Christian civilisation of a kind. Several churches were built, and the Cathedral ruins referred to were the relics of the greatest of them. But the slave trade was of greater interest to the Portuguese than the business of evangelisation, and ecclesiastics engaged in it. When our missionaries reached San Salvador, only the faintest traces of earlier missions remained. For many generations barbarism had resumed its ancient sway.
NOTE E.—[P. 194.]
“The First White Men”
When Lieutenant Grandy reached San Salvador in 1873, the King was ill with small-pox. The traveller treated him, left directions for further treatment, and foretold the progress of the case. Upon his return from Tungwa, he found the King full of wonder at the traveller’s knowledge and gratitude for his own recovery. By way of proving his gratitude he was asked to treat kindly the next white men who came along. He promised; and our missionaries reckoned themselves, in part, indebted for their good reception to the King’s fidelity to his promise.
NOTE F.—[P. 310.]
“Bella”
“Bella” is 27 inches high, with fair hair and eyes that open and shut. She was sent out to Kibokolo by the children of Belle Isle Church Sunday School, for Christmas, 1903. In due course she migrated to Kimpese, and though her complexion had suffered in the Congo climate, as is usual with English children, her first appearance made a great sensation, and the fading of her beauty was overlooked by her admirers. It was originally intended that she should be the “child” of a certain black girl whom the Belle Isle scholars supported. But Mrs. Lewis determined that she should be the “child” of the Mission; and to this decision, with its consequent restrictions, “Bella” doubtless owes her soundness of limb and her comparatively long career.