HENRY M. STANLEY.
On page 202 of the first volume of "The Dark Continent," Stanley says as follows:
"Since the 5th of April I had enjoyed ten interviews with M'tesa, and during all I had taken occasion to introduce topics which would lead up to the subject of Christianity. Nothing occurred in my presence but I contrived to turn it toward effecting that which had become an object to me—viz., his conversion. There was no attempt made to confuse him with the details of any particular doctrine. I simply drew for him the picture of the Son of God humbling himself for the good of all mankind, white and black; and told him how, when he was in man's disguise, he was seized and crucified by wicked people who scorned his divinity, and yet, out of his great love for them, while yet suffering on the cross, he asked his great Father to forgive them. I showed the difference in character between him whom white men love and adore, and Mohammed, whom the Arabs revere; how Jesus endeavored to teach mankind that we should love all men, excepting none, while Mohammed taught his followers that the slaying of the pagan and the unbeliever was an act that merited Paradise. I left it to M'tesa and his chiefs to decide which was the worthier character. I also sketched in brief the history of religious belief, from Adam to Mohammed. I had also begun to translate to him the Ten Commandments; and Idi, the Emperor's writer, transcribed in Kigandi the words of the Law, as given to him in choice Swahili by Robert Feruzi, one of my boat's crew, and a pupil of the Universities Mission at Zanzibar."
While Stanley was engaged in impressing the truths of the Christian religion upon the mind of this African king, there came one day the announcement that a white man was approaching from the north. The stranger came, and proved to be Colonel Linant de Bellefonds, of the Egyptian army, and at that time attached to the Soudan division, under command of Gordon Pacha. Colonel Linant met Mr. Stanley at M'tesa's palace, and the religious conversations were continued in his presence from time to time. His arrival was a material assistance to Stanley in converting the king; "for, when questioned," says Stanley, "about the facts which I had uttered, and which had been faithfully transcribed, M. Linant, to M'tesa's astonishment, employed nearly the same words, and delivered the same responses. The remarkable fact that two white men who had never met before, one having arrived from the south-east, the other having emerged from the north, should, nevertheless, both know the same things and respond in the same words, charmed the popular mind without the 'burzah' (court), and was treasured in M'tesa's memory as being miraculous."
In another place Stanley makes honorable mention of the poor Moslem laborer, Muley bin Salim, who converted M'tesa from the paganism in which Speke left him, and taught him the faith of Islam. Believing that one conversion could be followed by another, Stanley determined to build on the foundation laid by Muley bin Salim, by destroying the king's faith in Islam and teaching him the doctrines of Jesus of Nazareth. Colonel Linant, in his journal, makes an extended allusion to the good accomplished by Stanley, and the hours which they both devoted to the religious instruction of the king.[5]
Doctor Bronson and his young friends made several excursions in the neighborhood of Rubaga, and from the tops of the hills they enjoyed many charming views of the country. The region is one of the prettiest in Central Africa. There are few open plains or stretches of level land, as in the Unyoro country, and the marshes that make other parts of Africa so unhealthy are practically unknown. There is a succession of low hills, backed in the distance by ranges of mountains, and from most of the hill-tops the broad surface of the Victoria N'yanza is visible. Between all the ranges of hills there are brooks flowing down to the lakes, and as the rains are frequent in this part of the continent there is rarely any lack of water.
The boys were eager to look upon the Victoria N'yanza, and not only to look upon it, but to ride over its surface. The second day after their exhibition of the powers of the telephone to the king an excursion was made to Usavara, the station of the fleet of King M'tesa, at the head of a small bay which opened out from the lake.