Photo by] [Ernest H. Clark.
Kafukula Mission House, which cost £40.
On the following day, escorted by Mr. Clark, the Kafukula missionary, we reached that station, having descended some 2,000 feet from the edge of the Plateau, enjoying on the way magnificent views of the lake, near the shores of which we could see the ruins of the old Mission station at Niamkolo, which we were to visit a few days later. The Kafukula Mission house is a wattle-and-daub erection, and one of the most picturesque residences in Central Africa, as will be seen from the picture on the opposite page. It was built by Mr. Clark in 1910 at a total cost of £40. The view from the verandah can never be forgotten. In front the valley shelves down to the lake shore some 300 feet below. A small island, which is the property of the Society, nestles in the lake close to the bank, while beyond away to the north stretch the crystal waters in their mysterious loneliness. The eastern shore is visible for some distance, but the western is hidden by the trees in the foreground. This exquisite picture is framed by the forest-crowned hills on either side.
We had a great reception. As soon as we were seen descending the hill the drums began to beat, the bugle sounded and a gun was discharged. The people showed their gladness by smacking their mouths with their hands while emitting a clear bell-like sound. At the bottom of the hill the village Headman, a Christian, and a Church member of many years’ standing, met us, and we walked into the village between rows of people who, as we passed along, closed in behind and formed a long procession. Here and there were groups of children singing hymns, some of them in the native language and some in English. We passed through the village and down the slope to the beautiful river Lunzua, a rushing torrent, over which a primitive bridge of tree-trunks and mud in the shape of a crescent moon leads to the path to the Mission house, which is situated on a hill on the other side and is reached by a flight of forty-five steps.
Kafukula is the village to which many of the people from Niamkolo on the lake shore were moved in consequence of the sleeping-sickness regulations. During our stay we paid a visit to Niamkolo and the lake. The following description, written on the evening of the day of our visit, will speak for itself:—
“We were up early—as is usual in Central Africa. After breakfast we started for Niamkolo and the lake shore. On Mr. Clark’s advice I donned my ‘ulendo’ dress—a large white sun-helmet, a khaki flannel bush-shirt, khaki shorts, and stout boots and stockings and leather leggings. The Mission family accompanied us, Mrs. Clark travelling in a machila; the children—Dennis and Marjorie Clark—were accommodated in a box slung on a pole, carried by two men. My colleague travelled in a chair suspended between two poles and carried by relays of four men. Mr. Clark and I walked. It was a glorious morning. We stayed for a few moments at two villages to see the schools, or rather to see the teacher and his scholars, for school is held in a kind of stockade open to the sky, but partially shaded by a tree. The children sang lustily some verses of Mambwe hymns. Like all Central Africans they have wonderful memories, and soon learn the hymn-book of nearly one hundred hymns by heart.
“The walk was somewhat arduous, as much of it was through very long, thick, bamboo-like grass. Beyond the second village the land is uninhabited, and is forbidden ground owing to the sleeping-sickness regulations. We had to obtain special passes from the officials at Abercorn to permit us to make the trip. Mr. Clark had gone down with thirty men a week before to clear the path as much as possible and to burn the grass where necessary and practicable. It was an eight-mile walk to the former Mission station at Niamkolo, and nearly two miles further to the shore. The old station was a pathetic sight. The brick house in which the Stewart Wrights and the Clarks had lived was in ruins, as it had been left after the fire seven years ago. The walls were standing to the first floor, and inside trees, shrubs and grasses were growing in wild profusion. It was on Saturday evening, the 29th June, 1906, that the detached kitchen took fire in a great gale of wind. The sparks were carried on to the thatch of the dwelling house, and in two hours the place was burnt out—very little being saved. The Clarks were there to see their home destroyed before their eyes. This was the first time Mrs. Clark had visited the spot since the conflagration.
“Then came the walk down the hill past the site of the house in which Mr. and Mrs. Hemans, the black missionaries from Jamaica, used to live. Then we crossed the plain, once a great garden and rice field, now a swamp, to reach the Church and the shore. I was carried across the swamp by two men holding hands, on which I sat with my arms round their necks. We reached the ruins of the Church about mid-day. It is picturesquely situated on a hill overlooking the south end of the lake, and the island belonging to the Society. Its appearance suggests, on a smaller scale, the ruins of Iona Cathedral far more than those of a Church in Central Africa. The walls and gable end and the roofless bell-tower are still standing—and what walls they are!—all of light stone fashioned in large slabs, and a yard thick. We had lunch in the bell-tower in some trepidation, as the over-hanging stones threatened to fall, and then we made our way down to the stony beach, where we lingered long. The scene was beautiful beyond description. The lake stretched away to the north into the ‘glow and glory of the distance,’ where water and sky met on the horizon. The hills on each side were clothed with sylvan loveliness. The sky was reflected on the bosom of the water. White cloud was piled on white cloud with many a glimpse of deepest blue, and the glorious sunshine dominated the scene. It was a dream of beauty.
“The beach is covered with the loveliest shells of all descriptions. As we sat on the shore the wind blew the spray from the waves into our faces. The children and I paddled, and though, doubtless, there were crocodiles in the bulrushes to our left, we did not see any. After tea we turned our faces towards Kafukula. Long before we arrived at our destination the shadows of departing day crept on, and by the time we reached the villages it was quite dark. The sunset was worthy of the beauty of the day. For some moments the western sky looked like the very gate of the eternal. Then the fireflies flitted about in thousands. Their light was, however, from time to time obliterated, as it were, by flashes of summer lightning. Then the moon came out, nearly at her fullest, and lit up the landscape with clear, cool, placid light, and in the solemn beauty of the scene we forgot all about the lions and puff-adders which infest the country after dark.
“We had a great reception in the villages. The people all turned out and greeted us, and bade us farewell with ear-splitting salutations, following us for two miles and keeping up an unearthly noise all the time. Then all was peaceful again as Mr. Clark and I reached Kafukula, and crossed the arched bridge over the rushing river, and climbed up the steps to the Mission House. From the verandah we could see the great lake ten miles away peacefully asleep in the moonlight. It has been a glorious day, which will live in the memory as long as life lasts.”
Evangelistic and educational work is carried on in Kafukula itself and in the district of which it is the centre. Services and classes for inquirers and catechumens are regularly held, and the missionary visits the whole district three times a year, conducting services, inspecting schools, interviewing inquirers and carrying on the usual missionary activities. There are seventy-nine teachers connected with the station whose wages range from £1 (one senior teacher alone gets this; the next gets 9s. 6d.), to 1s. 6d. a month, and these wages are only paid during the six or seven months that teaching in the schools is carried on. If the teacher is placed far from his home he gets in addition 1s. a month for food. There is also an evangelist, paid at the rate of 6s. a month, who visits and preaches in the villages. There are 1,300 scholars in thirty-two schools, and their education consists of reading, writing, very elementary arithmetic and the memorising of the Lord’s Prayer, the Commandments, the Beatitudes and other passages of Scripture and hymns. Valuable medical work is also carried on. Some of the teachers acquire a little knowledge of the English language, which they are proud to show off on occasion. After our meeting with the teachers we received a letter in English, signed by some seventy of them and addressed to the Directors, from which the following extracts may be given as specimens of their English scholarship. The opening sentence is as follows: