“The town Nlekai goes to on Sundays is called Mbanza Mputu and is about one and a half hour’s walk distant. The townspeople have received the good news very gladly, and have themselves built a little meeting-house, that the rains may not stop them from hearing ‘God’s palaver.’ My husband has visited them several times, and they have been anxious to see me, as white women are scarce in this part of the world. As there is a deep river to be crossed on the road, I sent word that if they wished to see me they must make a bridge. They have done this; and last week I went with Nlekai.
CHIEF NOSO AND PART OF HIS FAMILY.
“I was heartily welcomed. All the people came together, and I talked to them for a long time about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; after which, the chief and other people asked many questions. They are very fond of singing, and know two or three hymns already; so we sang all they knew and I taught them another, ‘Oh, what a Saviour!’ which has been translated by one of our boys. Then I walked about the town and saw some sick people, everybody being anxious to know when I would come again.
“Before I left they told me that in a town not far away a witch palaver was to be held in three days’ time. Many people had been sick and had died. A witch doctor had pointed out a certain woman as the witch. She was to undergo the trial by poison. But being very angry they had determined that she should surely die. The chief and the people of Mbanza Mputu had tried to prevent this wickedness, but their protests were not listened to, and they wished to know if we could do anything. I promised to tell my husband. He started off the next day and arrived just in time to stop the cruel deed. There was a long discussion, and at last they agreed not to harm the woman. Mr. Lewis then told them something about God, to which they listened attentively, and afterwards begged him to come and teach them again. So you see, their wicked purpose is likely to turn out for the spread of the Gospel. The people at Mbanza Mputu have long ago thrown away their fetishes, and we hope that many of them may soon become true servants of God.
“When you are thinking about us out here, do not forget Nlekai and his work. He has just become engaged, though he will not be married for some years yet, and I think you may like to know how he got his future wife. Among the bad fashions of this dark land, one of the worst is, that men have many wives. The richer a man is the more wives he gets. Men buy little girls when they are quite small, and soon take them away to live with their other wives. Very often the little girls do not like to be taken away from their own families, but if they make a fuss they are beaten and tied and carried off.
“Well, the little girl whom Nlekai is to marry had been given by her family to a man who had ten wives already. He had bought a wife from the same family before. She had died, and so they gave him Bwingidi instead. She had been attending my school for some time, but her mother died, and soon after this man came to take her away. One Sunday, just as we had finished our morning service, she came running to us, begging to be allowed to stay, as she did not like the man, and did not wish to go where there was no school or teacher. He had come to fetch her the day before, but she had run away, had remained all night in the bush, and now they were looking for her.
“The next day all her people came; but when the ‘husband’ saw Bwingidi here, and dressed like the other girls, he said he did not want her, now that she had been living in the white man’s house, but he wanted the money which he had paid to her family for a wife. So we settled the matter by paying the price on condition that her family made her perfectly free, and they signed a paper putting her in our charge till she married. She is a bright girl of eleven or twelve years, and now it has been arranged that she is to be Nlekai’s wife when she grows up....
“We have now another member of our mission family, a baby boy about five months old. His mother having died, his father left him with some women, and cared no more for him. No one could be found to nurse him. So he was just flung into the corner of a dirty house to starve. When my husband brought him to me, he was so weak that he could not move nor even cry, and had a great boil on his neck. However, after being washed and fed, he slept well, and in a day or two could kick and scream finely. He is getting on well now, though he has many ailments, the effects of his ill-treatment. We call him ‘Daniel’ and hope he will grow up to be good and brave like his namesake.