GENERAL NOTES.
Africa.
—Quite full accounts of the Nyanza Mission are given in the last two numbers of the Church Missionary Intelligencer. Mr. Wilson set out August 23, 1878, from Kagei, at the south end of the lake, for Mtesa’a capital, at its northern extremity, in the Daisy, but was wrecked on the way, and compelled to take out a section of the boat with which to repair the rest of it. Eight weeks were thus occupied, during which they received great kindness from the chief and people of Uzongora, a tribe which met Stanley with great violence. They arrived November sixth at Uganda. Mtesa continued to treat them well, despite the efforts of the Arabs to prejudice him against them. Mr. Wilson had gone to meet the three missionaries who were coming to reinforce them by way of the Nile. Mr. Mackay was teaching reading by charts to a large number of old and young. Some valuable conclusions have been reached by their experience—that they do not need ordained men yet so much as those experienced in practical work. “Unless we succeed in elevating labor, we shall get hearers, but no doers. Hence slavery—domestic, at least—cannot cease; and if slavery does not cease, polygamy will remain.” The need of English traders to take the place of the Arabs, who want slaves, is emphasized. The cost of maintenance is very trifling: small presents secure an abundance of goats, coffee, plantains, sugar-cane, etc. It is hoped that long ere this, seven missionaries are together in Uganda, viz.: the Revs. O. T. Wilson and G. Litchfield; Messrs. Mackay, Pearson, Felkin, Stokes and Copplestone. Sixteen in all have been sent, of whom six have died and three have returned sick.
—The English Independent of October 30 says: “It would seem, from communications which have just been received, that the wiles of French Jesuits have already brought trouble to these missionaries. A letter of introduction, written by Lord Salisbury to King Mtesa, was read, and gave great satisfaction. Soon after the arrival of the Jesuits the aspect of affairs was changed. The king accused the missionaries of playing him false, an untruthful report having reached him that the Egyptians were advancing their posts more to the south. Some months passed in a very unsatisfactory manner, and at length one of the missionaries was allowed to go to Egypt to prepare the way for the king’s messengers, who were to be accompanied by Mr. Wilson; two more were permitted to return to the south side of the lake, ‘on condition that they would thence send on to Mtesa some mission stores left there.’ At the end of June, three remained at Uganda, without the necessary facilities either to carry on their mission work or to withdraw. With such troubles they are beset, through the combined intrigues of the enemies of corporeal and spiritual freedom.”
—The same paper says that no direct tidings have been received from the London Missionary Society’s agents at Ujiji on the Tanganika, and ascribes this break in communication to the Arab slave traders, and only hopes that their hostility has been limited to intercepting letters. Dr. Kirk, the consul at Zanzibar, has been instructed to institute inquiries. Dr. Laws, of the mission at Livingstonia (Scotch), has been requested to send messengers to Ujiji to learn the condition. Great solicitude is felt, and a day of special prayer for Divine guidance and help has been appointed. The last accounts in the Chronicle of the London Missionary Society report the death of Rev. A. W. Dodgshun seven days after his arrival at Ujiji, on the way to which place he lost nearly all the goods belonging to that part of the expedition, and the successful progress through Ugogo of Messrs. Southon and Griffith: they were in good health, and confident of reaching their destination shortly.
—The London Telegraph, of Oct. 22, says: “All alike will be interested in the following extract from a letter which has just been received from Mr. Stanley, the famous African explorer, by an intimate friend. The letter is dated from Banana Point, at the mouth of the Congo River, Sept. 13, and says: ‘All this year I have been very busy, and have worked hard. I have equipped one expedition on the East Coast; have reconstructed another—namely, the International—of whose misfortune we have heard so often, and have explored personally several new districts on the East Coast. Having finished my work satisfactorily to myself, my friends and those who sent me, I came through the Mediterranean and round to this spot, where I arrived two years and four months ago, on that glorious day on which we sighted old ocean after our rash descent of the Livingstone. * * * And now I begin another mission seriously and deliberately, with a grand object in view. I am charged to open—and keep open, if possible—all such districts and countries as I may explore for the commercial world. The mission is supported by a philanthropic society which numbers noble-minded men of several nations. It is not a religious society, but my instructions are entirely of that spirit. No violence must be used, and wherever rejected, the mission must withdraw to seek another field. We have abundant means, and, therefore, we are to purchase the very atmosphere, if any demands be made upon us, rather than violently oppose them. In fact, we must freely buy of all and every, rather than resent, and you know the sailor’s commandment—‘Obey orders if it breaks owners’—is easier to keep than to stand upon one’s rights.’”