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 IN THE HEART 
 OF THE 
 CONGO 
 
 By 4 
 
 Chas. L. Crane 
 
 PRICE 10 CENTS 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/inheartofcongoOOcran 
 
IN THE 
 
 HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 By 
 
 CHAS. L. CRANE 
 
 Published by 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE U. S. 
 NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 
 
 Educational Department 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This booklet is a thorough revision of “In the Heart of 
 Africa,” which met with a hearty reception in 1917, if we 
 may judge from the many warm expressions of apprecia¬ 
 tion on the part of the friends in the homeland. It has been 
 compiled also for an emergency. Rev. Motte Martin and 
 Mr. Frank Gilliam were appointed to secure literature from 
 our missionaries for the study of the Congo Mission in the 
 Sunday schools during 1924, Mr. Martin to secure such lit¬ 
 erature from the missionaries on the field and Mr. Gilliam 
 from those on furlough. Owing to serious illness in his 
 family, Mr. Martin has been unavoidably delayed, so the Ad- 
 Interim Committee took the matter in their hands and asked 
 certain missionaries for contributions. This brochure is in 
 response to that request. We trust that it will serve its pur¬ 
 pose of bringing a thorough knowledge of conditions on the 
 field, our present problems and policies. 
 
 It has just occurred to us, too, that this book may fill an¬ 
 other purpose. So many of our hospitable hosts in entertain¬ 
 ing us during our visits to their churches, ask just such ques¬ 
 tions as are contained herein. Missionaries are perfectly will¬ 
 ing to serve in any capacity, especially in conveying any in¬ 
 formation possible about their work, but often they have 
 wished for just such a book to put into the hands of an in¬ 
 quisitive host who keeps them from resting in the lazy hours 
 of the day or from much needed sleep at night. We suggest 
 that you read this book and surprise the next missionary 
 you entertain by knowing it by heart. 
 
 Charles L. Crane. 
 
 Mutoto, Congo Beige, Africa, October 10, 1923. 
 
Key to Pronunciation. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 Bakete . Bah-ket-ty 
 
 Baitetela . Ba-teh-tay-lah 
 
 Bakuba . Ba-koo-bah 
 
 Bena Lulua .Bay-nah Loo-loo-ah 
 
 Bulape.Boo-lah-pay (accent on last syllable) 
 
 Ibanche . Ee-ban-je 
 
 Kinshasa . Kin-shah-sah 
 
 Kasai . Kas-sai 
 
 Luebo . Loo-ay-bo 
 
 Lusambo . Loo-sam-bo 
 
 Matadi . Ma-tah-di 
 
 Mutoto . Moo-to-to 
 
 Sankuru . San-koo-roo 
 
 Thysville . Tais-vil 
 
 Ubangi . U-bang-gi 
 
 Bibanga . Bee-bahng-gah (accent second syllable) 
 
 Tchikapa . Chi-kah-pah 
 
KATEKISM ON THE KONGO 
 KOUNTRY 
 
 I. GEOGRAPHY OF AFRICA AND THE CONGO. 
 
 1. How does Africa compare with other continents as to 
 
 size ? 
 
 It is second in size, only Asia being larger. 
 
 2. How does it compare with other countries as to popula¬ 
 
 tion ? 
 
 It is third among the heathen countries as to popu¬ 
 lation, China being first with 400,000,000, India next 
 with 250,000,000, and Africa following with a popu¬ 
 lation variously estimated between 160 and 200 mil¬ 
 lions. 
 
 3. Why can not an accurate census be taken? 
 
 Because of the primitive conditions and customs of 
 the people, many of whom live away in the bush where 
 the white man rarely penetrates. 
 
 4. What countries could be accommodated in the area of 
 
 Africa? 
 
 Europe, India, China, the United States and imost 
 of the British Isles could be accommodated in Africa 
 without serious crowding. 
 
 5. What is remarkable about all this immense territory? 
 
 That out of 11,500,000 square miles, less than 250,- 
 000 remain in the hands of the native Africans them¬ 
 selves, the rest being partitioned among the various 
 European powers. 
 
 6. What European powers control most of the territory? 
 
 England and France control the largest share, the 
 area controlled by France being larger than that of 
 any other power; Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain 
 all have their share. 
 
 [ 5 ] 
 
6 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 7. What became of the German Colonies after the Great War 
 
 of 1914-1918? 
 
 The Cameroons, being assigned by mandate to 
 France, are really a part of her colonial possessions; 
 Togo-land went to England, as well as German East 
 Africa, except that two small provinces of the latter, 
 the Rua and Urundi, were assigned to Belgium; while 
 the former German colony on the West Coast, Ger¬ 
 man Southwest Africa, was assigned to the Union of 
 South Africa and thus became in reality a part of the 
 British colonial possessions. 
 
 8. What countries maintained a nominal independence be¬ 
 
 fore the World War? 
 
 Abyssinia and Liberia, the latter having been 
 founded in 1821-’21 as an asylum for the freed slaves 
 of America and having maintained practically com¬ 
 plete autonomy since 1848-1849. 
 
 9. What other large country has recently obtained its auto¬ 
 
 nomy ? 
 
 Egypt, which in 1921 ceased to become a protector¬ 
 ate of the British Crown and crowned its own king. 
 
 10. In what division of Africa is our Congo Mission? 
 
 In the Belgian Congo, which occupies almost the 
 exact center of the Continent, extending about 5 de¬ 
 grees above the equator and 12 degrees below it. 
 
 11. Why is it called the Belgian Congo? 
 
 Because controlled by Belgium and to distinguish 
 from the French Congo to the north and west of the 
 Congo river. 
 
 12. What great river, with its tributaries, waters the whole 
 
 of the Belgian Congo and a large part of the French 
 
 Congo? 
 
 The great Congo river, which includes in its sys¬ 
 tem over 10,000 miles of navigable streams, waters 
 an area of 1,300,000 square miles in extent, and is 
 second in volume of water only to the Amazon. 
 
 13. What are some of the largest of the Congo tributaries? 
 
 The Ubangi, the Kasai, the Sankuru, the Kwangu, 
 the Lualuaba, Lomami and Uele, nearly all of 
 which have themselves several navigable tributaries. 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 V 
 
 14. Which of these larger tributaries of the Congo water the 
 
 territory of our Congo Mission? 
 
 The Kasai and Sankuru Rivers, both of which have 
 several large navigable tributaries. 
 
 15. Just where is the territory of our Congo Mission? 
 
 If we trace the route ordinarily taken by the (mis¬ 
 sionary in reaching his field, beginning with the mouth 
 
 Native Evangelists and Teachers. 
 
 of the Congo and coming on up as if there were no 
 rapids to be overcome in the river, we shall follow 
 its course until we come to Kwamouth, where the 
 Kasai empties into the Congo. Then following the 
 Kasai (until we come 'to Basongo we are at the very 
 apex of the angle made by the Kasai) and Sankuru 
 rivers, which, speaking rather roughly, form the north¬ 
 ern and western boundaries of our territory. That 
 territory takes in a part of the Kasai for its western 
 boundary, while its eastern boundary is near the Lorn- 
 ami River, its southern boundary is near the seventh 
 parallel and its northern boundary is the Sankuru 
 River. Altogether this territory contains over 70,000 
 square miles and is almost as large as North and 
 South Carolina together. 
 
8 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 16. What about the climate of this section? 
 
 The climate for the most part is the best in the 
 Congo, unless we except that portion to the southeast. 
 At most of our stations, the days are hot but not un¬ 
 bearable, while the nights are generally cool. The 
 rainfall, being well distributed, and the soil being 
 relatively fertile, this section is a great food center 
 for the rest of the Congo. 
 
 II. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION. 
 
 1. What is the size of the Belgian Congo? 
 
 It contains approximately one million square miles. 
 
 2. Who opened the Congo to the world and when? 
 
 Henry M. Stanley in his famous journey from the 
 East Coast of Africa to the West in 1877. 
 
 3. What were some of his achievements in this Congo re¬ 
 
 gion? 
 
 He discovered the great Congo River, and Lake Tang¬ 
 anyika, dividing the honor of discovering the latter 
 with Livingstone; was ithe first administrator of Congo 
 affairs and put the whole vast region on the map. 
 
 4. What other men arc vitally connected with exploration 
 
 in the Congo? 
 
 George Grenfell, a missionary of the Baptist Mis¬ 
 sionary Society (British), and Major Wissman. The 
 latter explored the Kasai river in 1887 and founded 
 Luebo as a trading post at the head of the Lulua, one 
 of the navigable tributaries of the Kasai. 
 
 5. After Stanley’s explorations, what became of the Congo? 
 
 It was first held by King Leopold II of Belgium as 
 a private possession, under the name of the Congo In¬ 
 dependent State, and was later (in 1908) taken over 
 as a regular colony of the Belgian Government. 
 
 6. What ivas the condition of the natives under Leopold 
 
 11, and the cause largely instrumental in leading 
 
 Belgium to take over the country as a regular col¬ 
 ony? 
 
 Under the regime of Leopold II the natives were 
 treated with great cruelty and injustice. Thousands 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 9 
 
 of them lost their lives under the system used in mak¬ 
 ing them labor in rubber and in gathering ivory; the 
 country was largely spoiled of its material resources; 
 and the progress of missions and enlightenment were 
 greatly hindered. The Belgians themselves in large 
 numbers protested, and under the leadership of the 
 great Socialist Van derVelde joined their efforts with 
 those of other nations in bringing these conditions to 
 a close. 
 
 7. What can he said of the Belgian Administration to-day? 
 
 While conditions are far from perfect, their main 
 difficulties being the matter of financing it and secur¬ 
 ing a sufficient number of native Belgian officers for 
 administering the affairs of their colony, the former 
 cruelties and atrocities have ceased, and the Congo is 
 given a wise and equitable government. 
 
 8. What of the Belgian attitude toward missions? 
 
 Roman Catholic missions receive the sanction and a 
 large measure of support from the Government. Pro¬ 
 testant missionary societies have grown in the favor 
 of the Belgian officials and are accorded a measure of 
 liberty that is denied them by France, and even by 
 Great Britain in certain sections. Our own Mission 
 has received many favorable expressions from officials 
 of the Government. 
 
 9. What is the chief political difficulty that Protestant mis¬ 
 
 sions are constantly faced with? 
 
 The Great War left the Belgian people largely sus¬ 
 picious of Americans and British, especially of the lat¬ 
 ter. Roman Catholic priests, with their usual machina¬ 
 tions and subtle propaganda, are constantly at work 
 in an effort to bring suspicion into the hearts of the 
 Belgian people, ascribing political motives to all Amer¬ 
 ican and British missionaries in Belgian and French 
 Congo. 
 
 10. To what extent has such propaganda succeeded? 
 
 To the credit of the Belgian people, as well as to the 
 work of Dr. Henri Anet, one of the leaders among the 
 Belgian Protestants, it must be said that such propa¬ 
 ganda has not seriously hindered the work of the 
 Protestants in Congo. The Colonial Minister, Monsieur 
 
10 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 Francke, a man of broad views and common sense, him¬ 
 self took up the defense of the Protestants in one un¬ 
 warranted attack from a Belgian Roman Catholic hier¬ 
 arch launched in the Belgian Chamber. 
 
 11. How does Belgium, with her population of less than eight 
 
 millions govern so large an area as the Congo with 
 
 its population estimated at more than fifteen mil¬ 
 lions ? 
 
 She has a Governor-General appointed by Parlia¬ 
 ment and responsible to the Minister of the Colony. 
 The Colony is divided into twenty-two administrative 
 districts, with a Commissioner over each district; these 
 larger districts being subdivided into “territories,” with 
 an Administrator over each territory. These Commis¬ 
 sioners and Administrators with their agents and as¬ 
 sistants are all white men, mostly Belgians. The na¬ 
 tive chiefs are then given rule over their clans, their 
 rights so far as they do not interfere with civilization 
 and enlightenment being respected to the point where 
 a native chief has almost absolute power over his sub¬ 
 jects. These chiefs act as intermediaries between their 
 subjects and the Belgian Government. Under the white 
 officers there are more than 20,000 native soldiers and 
 police, probably as many as 30,000 since the Great War. 
 
 12. What is the official language of the Colony? 
 
 French is the official language, though Flemish is 
 also recognized and occurs on nearly all official docu¬ 
 ments and stationery of the Government. 
 
 13. How do the missionaries and others usually refer to the 
 
 Belgian Government in Congo? 
 
 As the State. This is largely a relic of the older 
 days when the Congo was known as the Congo Inde¬ 
 pendent State. 
 
 14. What are some of the principal towns of the Congo? 
 
 Boma, the present capital, situated near the mouth 
 of the Congo River; Banana, an important wireless 
 station at the mouth of that river; Matadi, the prin¬ 
 cipal port for ocean-going vessels, terminus of one of 
 the railways; Thysville, half-way stop on the Lower- 
 Congo Railway, where passengers always spend the 
 night during the journey up to Kinshasa; Kinshasa, 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 11 
 
 an important commercial center, which will shortly be¬ 
 come the capital of the colony and which already occu¬ 
 pies one of the foremost positions as a manufacturing 
 and trading center; Stanleyville, at the head of navi¬ 
 gation on the Congo River, terminus of another rail¬ 
 way; Coquilhatville, Lusambo, Luebo, Tchikapa, Al¬ 
 bertville and Elizabethville, the last being at present 
 the largest town in Congo and containing from two to 
 three thousand white people. 
 
 15. Why cannot ocean-going vessels go farther than Matadi? 
 
 Because between Matadi and Leopoldville, for a dis¬ 
 tance of over 230 miles the river is filled with dan¬ 
 gerous cataracts and waterfalls rendering it impossible 
 for even a small canoe to live in the current. 
 
 16. What most peculiar fact about the physical formation of 
 
 the Continent makes such cataracts unavoidable? 
 
 The Continent is formed sctmewhat in steps with a 
 rapid descent as the West Coast is approached. Just 
 above the cataracts the river widens out into an enor¬ 
 mous inland lake called Stanley Pool. 
 
 17. How is the difficulty created by the cataracts on the lower 
 
 reaches of the Congo now surmounted? 
 
 By a railway which goes over a large part of the 
 old caravan trail from Matadi to Leopoldville, a distance 
 of about 230 miles. This railway, being a small nar¬ 
 row gauge road over a rough and not very well-con¬ 
 structed track, though forming a vast improvement 
 over the old caravan route, when it took from ten days 
 to two weeks to travel from Matadi to Leopoldville, will 
 be further improved in the next few years. Ocean ves¬ 
 sels discharge their cargoes at Matadi, this road car¬ 
 ries them to Kinshasa, from whence the river steamers 
 take them to all points on the Congo, Kasai and other 
 rivers. 
 
 18. What other line has been long projected and on which 
 
 construction has already commenced? 
 
 The line known as the “Lower-Congo to Katanga 
 Railway,” a line from Kinshasa to Bukama, the pre¬ 
 sent terminus of the Cape-to-Cairo Railway. Construc¬ 
 tion has already compienced at Ilebo, near our station 
 at Luebo and from the terminus at Bukama, these two 
 
12 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 sections to be joined within the next few years so that 
 copper, agricultural products and probably coal can 
 be carried from the Katanga in the southeast to the 
 Atlantic seaboard on the west. 
 
 19. How many miles of railway has the Congo at present? 
 
 Less than 1,500 miles at present, but probably in 
 the near future there will be in the neighborhood of 
 2,000 (miles. 
 
 20. What other improved means of transportation was in¬ 
 
 augurated shortly after the War? 
 
 Aeroplane routes, which carry the mail from the 
 Lower Congo to important points up the Congo River. 
 
 21. What, still further, in the way of communication with 
 
 the outside world has the Congo? 
 
 Large wireless stations are located at important 
 points in the Congo. In the Kasai district there are 
 stations at both Lusambo and Charlesville. A mes¬ 
 sage from Luebo, Mutoto, or Lusambo will reach any 
 destination in America, providing nothing hinders its 
 progress within less than a week or not more than a 
 week after its despatch. 
 
 22. What may be said further in regard to the development 
 
 of the Congo in recent years? 
 
 The development of the Congo in the past five years 
 has been greater than the development of any previous 
 ten years. Large mineral and diamond deposits have 
 been discovered and opened; plantations have begun 
 exporting coffee, cocoa, cotton and many other tropical 
 products; and exportations of palm-nuts and palm-oil 
 have quadrupled. 
 
 23. What are the principal exports to-day? 
 
 Palm-oil; palm-kernels; some rubber, though noth¬ 
 ing like so much as formerly; large quantities of cop¬ 
 per; diamonds, both in the form of uncut gems and 
 commercial stones; coffee, cocoa, castor-beans, and cot¬ 
 ton; ivory; gold; some hides; copal for making var¬ 
 nishes; with the resources from which these products 
 are being obtained scarcely yet touched. 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 13 
 
 24. What may be said of the economic importance of Africa 
 in general and of the Congo in particular? 
 
 As the sources of food supply and especially as the 
 sources of raw materials for manufactures in other 
 countries become more and more exhausted, the world 
 must turn to Africa for a part of these at least. The 
 Congo, occupying as it does the central portion of the 
 Continent and containing one of the finest inland water¬ 
 ways of the world besides having large mineral depos¬ 
 its and fertile lands, will attract the attention of Eu¬ 
 ropean and American capitalists. 
 
 (Left) Musonguela, pastor at Mutoto. (Right) Kabonga Moses, 
 
 pastor at Lusambo. 
 
 25. What has already taken place in Congo with reference 
 to its diamond mines? 
 
 American and Belgian capitalists have financed a big 
 undertaking, which has developed immense works near 
 Luebo at Tchikapa, whence beautiful gems are ex¬ 
 ported; also at Lukalenge, where commercial diamonds 
 in large quantities are being exported. These mines 
 are being worked by native laborers drawn from every 
 section of the Kasai and Lomami Districts, where our 
 Mission is working, hundreds of young men who for- 
 
14 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 merly knew little or nothing of the white man being 
 thrown into intimate and not very healthful contact 
 with him at these large mining centers. 
 
 26. What material improvements have followed in the wake 
 
 of these developments? 
 
 Besides the railways already mentioned, there are 
 many motor roads being built throughout this whole 
 section, the automobile and the motor truck being used 
 to some extent to replace the former methods of travel 
 and transport. 
 
 27. Who forms the link between the source of supply and 
 
 the European markets? 
 
 While the white man must direct the development, 
 the native has always supplied and will continue to 
 supply the necessary labor for mining, growing the 
 crops, running the trains and steamers, and loading 
 the ocean vessels for Europe; thus, the native is the 
 main link in the chain between the demand for raw 
 materials from Africa and the supply. 
 
 28. What is the moral and social effect on the native of the 
 
 sudden transformations wrought by modern com¬ 
 mercial and economic development? 
 
 The native brought from his simple and primitive en¬ 
 vironment into contact with white civilization without 
 Christ, thrown with natives frdm other sections where 
 the vices of the white man. have brought him more or 
 less into contempt, together with the evils that follow 
 in the train of high wages and European trade- 
 stores, has been transformed from a docile, pliable 
 sort of an individual into one of rather a different char¬ 
 acter, less easy to reach, filled with wrong conceptions 
 of what it is to be civilized, and in many cases com¬ 
 pletely immoral. 
 
 29. What must the church do in this situation? 
 
 It must hasten to reach and mold these people in 
 its own mold before they become so hardened to the 
 call of the gospel that it will take double the effort to 
 reach them. The next ten years of the Congo Mission 
 will probably decide one way or the other which must 
 win—commercialism or Christ? 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 15 
 
 III. FLORA AND FAUNA OF THE CONGO. 
 
 1. What animals are to be found in the Congo? 
 
 From a casual visit, or judging simply by appear¬ 
 ances, one would feel that animal life in Congo is 
 conspicuous by its absence, yet the Congo Museum in 
 Brussels contains stuffed specimens and the Antwerp 
 Zoological Gardens contain live specimens of the fol¬ 
 lowing animals: lions, elephants, gorillas, zebras, hip¬ 
 popotami, leopards, many kinds of antelope, many spe¬ 
 cies of monkeys, buffaloes, crocodiles and other water 
 animals, besides many varieties of birds, reptiles and 
 fish. 
 
 2. What of the animal life in the vicinity of our Mission 
 
 stations? 
 
 In coming up the rivers either to Luebo or to Lusam- 
 bo one sees many hippopotami and crocodiles, besides 
 various waterfowl and perhaps a distant herd of buf¬ 
 faloes. Around Bulape elephants are to be found. At 
 /Bibanga, elephants, buffaloes, antelopes and wild hogs 
 abound. Monkeys of various types and species are 
 found in nearly every forest. Lions have come into 
 the vicinity of Mutoto within the past four years on 
 two different occasions, while Bibanga is not far from 
 the lion country. 
 
 3. What of the reptiles? 
 
 Lizards of several species, the common toad, iguanas 
 and chameleons are found around most of the stations; 
 serpents of a more or less harmless character, besides 
 at least two different varieties of vipers or adders occur 
 around some of the stations, though deaths from them 
 are almost non-occurrent; centipedes and scorpions are 
 also seen quite frequently. 
 
 4. What domestic animals and fowls has the native? 
 
 The natives have goats, sheep, dogs, chickens, ducks 
 and pigeons. 
 
 5. What domestic animals have been introduced? 
 
 Some cattle, hogs and donkeys besides various fowls 
 such as chickens, pigeons and peacocks. 
 
16 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 6. Do cattle thrive in the Congo? 
 
 In certain parts they thrive very well indeed, while 
 in others they do not. At Bibanga especially they 
 seem to thrive very well. 
 
 7. What of the native plant life of the Congo? 
 
 One is especially struck with the luxuriant vegeta¬ 
 tion along the banks of the rivers. The tangled pro¬ 
 fusion of vines and creepers and trees in the forests 
 presents an impassable barrier to one unaccompanied 
 with knife to cut his way through. But one will per¬ 
 haps be disappointed in the lack of wild flowers such 
 as might be expected in a tropical country. 
 
 8. Are there many wild flowers? 
 
 There are many very beautiful and very peculiar 
 types of wild flowers, orchids, lilies, colored leaves, 
 large, sweet-pea-like flowers growing on substantial 
 stalks and out in the open plain, daisies, coleus, and 
 sweet-perfumed wild hyacinths. 
 
 9. What about the trees? 
 
 Various kinds of acacia, red and white mahogany, 
 eucalyptus and other unnameable trees abound. The 
 forests contain magnificent specimens, and sometimes 
 the native “sanga” or white mahogany, around which 
 the Baluba people build their villages, towers its head 
 far into the heavens, but growing out of the rela¬ 
 tively bare plain with few other trees for neighbors. 
 
 10. In what respect is the flora and fauna of the Congo a 
 boon to the missionary? 
 
 The animals supply the natives as well as the mis¬ 
 sionary with meat, the flowers are their constant de¬ 
 light, while some of the most beautiful yet inexpensive 
 furniture has been made from the beautiful woods 
 around their stations. 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 17 
 
 IV. GENERAL RELIGIOUS SITUATION. 
 
 1. Why was Africa called the Dark Continent by Stanley? 
 
 Because, perhaps, it was dark as to its geography 
 and civilization, and populated almost entirely by dark 
 peoples. 
 
 2. What may be said of that darkness to-day? 
 
 Though the Continent has been explored frdm end 
 to end, though the light of civilization has broken over 
 an immense area, though the march of civilization and 
 progress during the past few decades has been nothing 
 short of phenomenal, yet it is still dark as to its moral 
 night and darkest of all the countries as to its reli¬ 
 gions. 
 
 3. What are the three great factors that have opened the 
 
 country to the world and that have greatly aided 
 the work of missions? 
 
 The explorations, which have resulted in discovering 
 to the world its vast resources; the partitioning among 
 the civilized powers, most of whom have granted either 
 relative or absolute religious freedom to the natives; 
 and Christian missions, which have followed in the wake 
 of exploration and, in many instances, such as in the 
 case of Livingstone and George Grenfell, have been 
 animated by Christian missions. 
 
 4. Why should Africa be of interest to students of the Bible? 
 
 Next to Palestine, Africa forms the background as 
 well as the stage for many of ithe important events in 
 the life of the Hebrew nation, being vitally connected 
 with the history of the patriarchs, the rise and Exodus 
 of the Children of Israel, the flight of Jeroboam from 
 Solomon and part of his training in Egypt, Shishak’s 
 invasion, Zerah’s invasion and with the history of many 
 of the prophets. Palestine formed a buffer state be¬ 
 tween Egypt and the Eastern nations in the “Period 
 Between the Testaments.” In the New Testament we 
 have the flight of Joseph and Mary, who found a refuge 
 in Egypt from whence God was “to call his Son”; 
 Simon, the Cyrenian, native of a portion of Northeast 
 Africa, bears the cross of Jesus as a fitting symbol of 
 many millions who have since borne that Cross in fol- 
 
18 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 lowing Him out of darkness into light; and the Ethio¬ 
 pian Eunuch in his earnestness for salvation uttered a 
 cry that has been echoed by many thousands and mil¬ 
 lions of his fellow-Africans in their query, “How shall 
 I undersitand except some man should guide me?” 
 
 A Church Shed. 
 
 5. How is Africa also connected ivitk the history of the 
 
 early Christian Church? 
 
 It was once the stronghold of Christianity. Augus¬ 
 tine, the greatest expounder of Pauline doctrines that 
 ever lived, was Bishop of Hippo for thirty-eight years. 
 Athanasius, a brilliant theologian who guided the 
 church through the years of ancient “modernism,” was 
 born at Alexandria in the third century after Christ, 
 and was Bishop of that city in after years. Other 
 illustrious men, such as Origen, Cyprian, Tertullian 
 and Clement were either native of Africa or spent most 
 of their theological lives there. It is said that of the 
 twenty greatest names in the Christian Church between 
 the years 150 and 400, more than half belonged to 
 North Africa. 
 
 6. What was the chief characteristic of this church in North 
 
 Africa? 
 
 It was alive with missionary zeal. The first mis¬ 
 sionary training school is said to have been founded 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 19 
 
 in Alexandria before 200 a.d. Within 200 years after 
 Pentecost there were 900 churches in the section of 
 Africa bordering the Mediterranean coast. 
 
 7. What city was the center of Christian culture and in¬ 
 
 fluence? 
 
 Alexandria, which was the holme of illustrious men; 
 which had been the scene of the translation of the 
 Greek Version of the Old Testament known as the 
 Septuagint in 185 B.C., which had a library of 700,000 
 volumes; and which was to the East what Rome was 
 to the West. 
 
 8. Who was probably the bearer of the first news of the 
 
 Saviour to Africa? 
 
 The Ethiopian Eunuch who was led to Christ by the 
 Evangelist Philip. Tradition has it that six of the 
 disciples and apostles labored there, among whom 
 Evangelist Mark was first, but there is no certainty 
 in this tradition. 
 
 9. What change came over the church in North Africa in 
 
 later centuries? 
 
 It lost its character as a missionary church and its 
 vision of a world won to Christ. Its spiritual life be¬ 
 came almost extinct, its leaders began endless and 
 bitter disputations among themselves, until finally 
 in refusing to give the gospel unto others they had 
 none of it left for themselves. 
 
 10. What terrible scourge did God send upon them? 
 
 The Mohammedan invasion which swept over the 
 country in 650 a.d., and brought the whole country un¬ 
 der the sway of Islam. 
 
 11. What African churches claim to have remained true to 
 
 the gospel ant what does this disprove? 
 
 The Coptic and Abyssinian Churches, which, though 
 they have a large amount of superstition mingled with 
 their Christianity, have retained some measure of the 
 truth through the centuries, while the churches of 
 Greek, Latin, and Jewish extraction have gone over 
 completely to Mohammedanism. This disproves the 
 theory that the Ethiopian churches are too unstable to 
 retain their Christianity. 
 
20 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 12. Who was Mohammed? 
 
 He was born in Arabia in 570 a.d. Entered the ser¬ 
 vice of a widow, Khedija, for whom he travelled in 
 Palestine and probably learned something of the Jew¬ 
 ish and Christian religions. Being subject to epileptic 
 fits and delicately constituted, he was fitted in a pe¬ 
 culiar way to be the propagator of a new religion. He 
 claimed that the Angel Gabriel appeared to him in a 
 cave directing him to preach the doctrine of the One 
 God. He began preaching in his native town of Mecca 
 but was persecuted and forced to flee to Medina, this 
 flight (622 a.d.) being known as the Hejira. But his 
 following grew until it conquered Arabia and a large 
 part of Asia and Europe, being held back from a still 
 greater dominion in Europe by Charles Martel in the 
 Battle of Tours. 
 
 13. What is the sacred book of the Mohammedans and what 
 
 its principal teachings1 
 
 The Koran, published after Mohammed’s death and 
 containing beside the history of his “revelations” the 
 monotheism as it is stated by the Mohammedans, 
 “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his 
 prophet,” subordinating Jesus Christ to Mohaimmed. 
 It proclaims “Islam” or surrender of the will to God 
 through fear of his majesty rather than through love; 
 preaches the doctrine of “Kismet” or fatalism; and 
 commands abstention from pork and bodily filth. 
 
 14. What are the greatest evils of the religion? 
 
 Besides its harsh conception of God it encourages 
 sensuality by holding out the promise of a life of 
 sensuality in heaven. Women are mere chattel slaves 
 and tools of lust, and slavery is encouraged. 
 
 15. How has it affected missions in the Congo? 
 
 While it has affected certain missions in the northern 
 portion of the Congo and has affected them all indi¬ 
 rectly through the slave traffic, its influence over the 
 natives in the section being evangelized by our own 
 Mission is almost negligible. 
 
 16. What religion, however, greatly hinders the work of 
 
 Protestant missions in the Congo, and how? 
 
 Roman Catholicism, which is far more serious be¬ 
 cause of its claim to be the only true Christian church 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 21 
 
 and because it actively opposes Protestant work. It 
 endeavors to poison the minds of the natives against 
 us by representing us as spiritual descendants of cer¬ 
 tain monks whom they claim left their own church in 
 order to gratify their own lusts. But its most baneful 
 influence is seen in the effort they make to pervert 
 justice and bring Protestant natives and missionaries 
 into suspicion and contempt with the Government. 
 
 17. Does it uplift the natives? 
 
 In all fairness, we must admit that the natives are 
 taught some very useful arts and trades in Roman 
 Catholic schools, especially where these are in cctinpe- 
 tition with Protestant schools. On the other hand, no 
 real change of heart occurs in the majority of those 
 who attach themselves to the Roman Catholics, the 
 process being completed on their learning a little cate¬ 
 chism filled with the worship of Mary and the saints 
 as well as superstitious dogmas. In most instances it 
 is simply an interchange of the crucifix and rosary for 
 the fetiches of the natives. The truth of God is al¬ 
 most hidden beneath a great deal of rubbish which is 
 not intelligible to the native mind. 
 
 18. What is the third menace to Christian missions in the 
 
 Congo? 
 
 The native religions themselves. These are unlike 
 the great religious systems of the East in that they 
 have no ethical code, but actually countenance and 
 command certain things that are forbidden in other 
 religions. In short, the religious life of the native 
 who has not come into contact with foreigners may be 
 best described by the first chapter of Romans, in which 
 is depicted the utter degradation of those who have 
 lost God. 
 
 19. Of what does this religon largely consist? 
 
 Superstition, which includes fetichism and devil-wor¬ 
 ship. They believe that God has created the world 
 and left it in the hand of an infinite number of devils 
 and spirits whom they must appease. “They pass the 
 time of their sojourning here in fear.” 
 
 20. What is a fetich? 
 
 A charm worn around the neck, ankles, wrists, fore¬ 
 head, or carried in the hand. Sometimes it is a goat's 
 
22 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 horn filled with cassava flour, dirt, or other substance 
 especially recommended or sold by the witch-doctor. 
 Sometimes it is an image of a bird or animal. It is in 
 many shapes and has many different offices, such as 
 protection of life, bringing of wealth, protection from 
 lightning, strengthening the body, killing an enemy, 
 protection of crops, curing of sickness, helping in theft 
 or murder, and promotion of childbirth. 
 
 21. What is a witch-doctor? 
 
 He is the medicine-man or woman and priest of the 
 village, often with more power than the chief himself. 
 He can often work tricks to deceive and thus his power 
 is increased. Of all the contemptible and depraved 
 beings he is the worst, often causing innocent persons 
 to drink the poison cup or to be slain by his cruel prac¬ 
 tices. 
 
 22. Give two examples disproving the common theory of “in¬ 
 
 nocence of the heathen ” and showing that the 
 
 heathen religions so far from uplifting actually de¬ 
 grade the native to the level of a beast. 
 
 The one example, out of many, may be taken from 
 our own section where an important head-chief is liv¬ 
 ing with his own daughter as one of his plural 
 wives. The other is taken from Rhodesia, where the 
 chief Chingango sacrificed his second son to the heathen 
 goddess Muari in an attempt to appease her wrath and 
 secure rain for the crops. At his trial by the British 
 Government it developed that he had sacrificed two 
 other sons in a similar manner in spite of the vigilance 
 of the authorities and the advanced state of civiliza¬ 
 tion in Rhodesia. 
 
 23. What is the fourth and, in many respects, the most seri¬ 
 
 ous hindrance to Christian missions? 
 
 The ungodly lives of white men who throw all morals 
 to the dogs when they go to Africa. Adultery and 
 whiskey drinking are the two evils that usually follow 
 in the train of civilization without Christ, and these 
 two evils have reached their climax in the Congo. 
 
 24. What sad sights do the missionaries now see in large 
 
 European centers? 
 
 Natives are becoming addicted to the habit of smok¬ 
 ing cigarettes, for which they must often steal the 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 23 
 
 money to purchase, gambling has grown very common, 
 and native girls are selling their virtue both to the 
 Europeans and fellow natives. 
 
 25. What, then, is the only chance for Africa's redemption? 
 
 “The blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth from all 
 sin.” “For if Jesus Christ shall make you free, ye 
 shall be free indeed.” 
 
 26. What era began the modern missionary movement in 
 
 Africa? 
 
 In some respects we might say the eighteenth cen¬ 
 tury, when Raytmond Lull went to Tunis and labored 
 among the Mohammedans. However, efforts in this 
 century were rather scattered. The real modern move¬ 
 ment began with the going of Robert Moffat in 1817. 
 
 27. Who are some of the most famous of modern mission¬ 
 
 aries in Africa? 
 
 Besides the pioneer, Moffat, there were Livingstone, 
 perhaps the most illustrious; McKay of Uganda; John 
 MacKenzie of Bechuanaland; George Grenfell of the 
 Congo; and along with these must be placed our own 
 Dr. John Leighton Wilson, Samuel N. Lapsley and Dr. 
 William Morrison. 
 
 28. Why is Robert Moffat famous? 
 
 For his wonderful work in South Africa where he 
 labored for fifty-three years, transforming it into a 
 highly civilized state, and for his influence over Liv¬ 
 ingstone whom he led to Africa and to whom he gave 
 his daughter Mary in marriage. 
 
 29. Why is Livingstone perhaps the greatest missionary in 
 
 Africa? 
 
 He went to Africa in. 1840 and labored there for 
 thirty-three years. In this time he made a journey 
 from Linyanti in South Central Africa to St. Paul da 
 Loanda on the West Coast, returned across the Con¬ 
 tinent to the East Coast, discovering the course of the 
 Zambezi river, Victoria Falls, and coming out at Quili- 
 mane. He also discovered Lake Nyassa and shares with 
 Stanley the discovery of Lake Tanganyika. Besides 
 other very important discoveries were made and ex¬ 
 plorations in the regions of Abyssinia and Uganda. But 
 all these undertakings were conceived only for the pur- 
 
24 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 pose of ridding the people of slavery and opening the 
 country to Christian missions, which have been ef¬ 
 fectually accomplished. 
 
 30. Where and how did he die? 
 
 At Chitambo’s village in Ilaia, on the shores of Lake 
 Bangweolo, May 1, 1873, he was found cn his knees 
 praying. 
 
 31. Who ivas John MacKenzie? 
 
 He followed in the train of Livingstone, bringing 
 most of the territory that he had explored under the 
 flag of Great Britain and thus providing for the pro¬ 
 tection of missionaries and the freedom from the slave- 
 trade. He also became administrator of a large part 
 of this country. 
 
 32. When did Alexander McKay go to Uganda ayid how long 
 
 did he stay? 
 
 He went in 1878 and spent ten years. 
 
 33. Wha,t were the results of his labors and of those who 
 
 followed him? 
 
 Uganda is one of the miracles of modern missions. 
 After only twenty years of work the people had built 
 twenty-seven large churches and 400 small ones. Seven 
 hundred native teachers had been sent out; the Bible 
 was in the hands of the people of whom 120,000 had 
 learned to read and write; and Uganda was also trans¬ 
 formed into a highly civilized country. 
 
 34. What may be said of our own Dr. Leighton Wilson? 
 
 He went to Africa in November, 1833, and spent 
 twenty years in the Gaboon on the West Coast. This 
 Mission was afterwards transferred by the Presbyterian 
 Church, North (of which our church was a part when 
 Dr. Wilson went out) to the French Evangelical So¬ 
 ciety. Dr. Wilson became Secretary of Foreign Mis¬ 
 sions of the Southern Presbyterian Church and it was 
 largely through his influence that this church under¬ 
 took their work in the Congo. 
 
 35. What other missionary societies are at work in the 
 
 Congo? 
 
 The Baptist Missionary Society of England, which 
 has stations reaching almost across the Continent and 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 25 
 
 following along the route of the Congo river; the 
 American Baptist Society, which occupies what is 
 known as the Bas-Congo and Moyen-Congo; the Disci¬ 
 ples of Christ Congo Mission, which has stations in 
 Moyen-Congo at Bolenge, Lotumbe, Monieka and Mon- 
 dombe; the Congo Balolo Mission; two missions of the 
 Methodist Churches of America (Northern and South¬ 
 ern) ; Heart of Africa Mission; Africa Inland Mission; 
 
 A Typical Congregation. 
 
 besides a Belgian Protestant Mission and nine or ten 
 others. All of these societies are in entirely different 
 territory and working with people of entirely different 
 language and character from those among whelm we 
 are working. 
 
 36. What plan of comity is in force among these various so¬ 
 cieties? 
 
 They are nearly all members of the Conference of 
 Protestant Missions, which meets annually to discuss 
 methods and principles of missionary administration, 
 and to mark out territory to be evangelized by the re¬ 
 spective societies. When one society preempts a cer¬ 
 tain territory and language the others recognize this 
 right and thus is prevented a large amount of duplica¬ 
 tion. 
 
26 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 V. OUR CONGO MISSION. ITS FOUNDING 
 AND EARLY HISTORY. 
 
 1. What is the official title of our Congo Mission? 
 
 It is known in Congo as the American Presbyterian 
 Congo Mission. 
 
 2. What other missions are adjacent to ours? 
 
 The Southern Methodist or, as it is officially known, 
 the Methodist Episcopal Congo Mission; the Mennonite 
 or Congo Inland Mission; the Wescott Brothers (Mis¬ 
 sion of the Plymouth Brethren in England) ; and sev¬ 
 eral other missions have individual stations in territory 
 adjacent to ours. 
 
 3. Who founded our Mission and when? 
 
 It was founded by Samuel N. Lapsley of Alabama 
 and Wm. H. Sheppard of Virginia, the latter being a 
 young colored man who had just graduated from Still¬ 
 man Institute. They set sail in February 1890. 
 
 4. Tell something of their voyage. 
 
 They first went to England, where they purchased 
 supplies and arranged with one of the London firms to 
 handle our business. Through a very fortunate cir¬ 
 cumstance Mr. Lapsley met a Christian business man 
 on the steamer sailing to England and secured from 
 him an introduction to another English gentleman, Mr. 
 Robert Whyte, a member of the English Presbyterian 
 Church. Mr. Whyte being senior partner in the firm of 
 Whyte, Ridsdale and Company, and vitally interested 
 in the work of missions in Africa, readily consented to 
 handle all our business. For many years the connec¬ 
 tion between our Mission and this firm has continued, 
 Mr. Whyte being considered as much a part of the 
 Mission as any missionary. 
 
 After some time in England and Belgium arranging 
 other business and diplomatic details, these two young 
 men set sail from Holland on the “S. S. Afrikaan,” 
 which took about one month to reach the mouth of 
 the Congo River. 
 
 5. After reaching the Congo, what did they do? 
 
 In those days there was no railway from Matadi to 
 Leopoldville, so they travelled this distance of 230 miles 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 27 
 
 by hammock. But first they had to arrange for por¬ 
 ters to handle their supplies and secure an agent at 
 Matadi to forward all future shipments. They spent 
 some time at Matadi arranging for this work and in 
 securing information and advice, after which they left 
 for Leopoldville. 
 
 6. In what statesmanlike way did Lapsley and Sheppard 
 
 go about the work of founding our Mission? 
 
 Besides searching carefully all available maps of the 
 territory, they actually traversed a large part of this 
 territory, going up the Congo river for a visit to Dr. 
 Grenfell, then located at Bolobo of the Baptist Mis¬ 
 sionary Society (British). They returned from Bolobo 
 and made a dangerous and difficult canoe trip up the 
 Congo, then into the Kasai, and then into the Kwangu 
 and Kwilu Rivers, which converge into one stream 
 emptying into the Kasai. 
 
 They decided at first on Boleke, near the mouth of 
 the Kwangu, but in some way God changed their plans 
 and led them to descend the river and return to Leo¬ 
 poldville for another try farther up the Kasai. 
 
 7. What course was finally decided upon? 
 
 They decided to make a steamer trip from Leopold¬ 
 ville to the head of navigation on the Lulua River, near 
 Luebo, then a trading post. They secured passage for 
 themselves, their supplies, and several native assistants 
 on the little river steamer, “Florida,” and made an ex¬ 
 ceedingly thrilling, and, in many respects, a dangerous 
 voyage to Luebo. The distance from Leopoldville is 
 about 800 miles. 
 
 8. What did they find at Luebo? 
 
 They found a ready welcome among the natives and 
 a most beautiful site for a station. Luebo is on a 
 high plateau, almost 1,700 feet above sea-level, situated 
 on the Lulua River and at the mouth of the Luebo River. 
 The Lulua River is navigable up to this point for most 
 of the year, that is for steamers like the “Lapsley”; 
 and steamers smaller than the “Lapsley” make regular 
 trips up and down the river to Basongo even during 
 the dry season. 
 
28 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 9. What were the first steps taken by the missionaries? 
 
 The site for the station was cleared and carefully 
 charted, several small houses were built, and school 
 was commenced by using the ground and sticks in lieu 
 of blackboard and chalk. Mr. Lapsley made a trip to 
 Luluabourg in quest of a site for a second station, show¬ 
 ing that somehow God was directing him towards the 
 thickly populated interior; and our missionaries gained 
 the confidence of the natives from the very start. 
 
 10. What sad ending have we to the first chapter of our 
 
 Mission history? 
 
 Mr. Lapsley had to go down river to see the Governor- 
 General in regard to a clear title for the site chosen. 
 He was successful in his errand and was on his return 
 journey when taken ill at Underhill, near Matadi. Worn 
 by constant travels and exposures, physical hardships 
 that were too much for his frail constitution, he suc¬ 
 cumbed to an attack of hematuric fever. He had la¬ 
 bored in Africa for a little more than a year, but had 
 founded one of the most remarkable missions in the 
 world. He died on the 26th of March 1892, at the age 
 of twenty-six years, as truly a martyr of the Cross as 
 any that ever suffered for Christ’s sake. 
 
 11. Who soon relieved the brave Sheppard, who stood by his 
 
 post during these severe trials? 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Adamson of the Congo Balolo Mission 
 joined the Mission in the beginning of 1892, and in the 
 latter part of that year four new recruits came. These 
 were Rev. Dr v D. W. Snyder and wife, and Rev. and 
 Mrs. Arthur Rowbotham. 
 
 12. Name some of the early missionaries who followed later. 
 
 Four colored workers joined the Mission in 1894: 
 Mrs. Sheppard, Rev. H. P. Hawkins, and Misses Maria 
 Fearing and Lillian Thomas. Later came Rev. S. P. 
 Verner, Rev. J. E. Phipps (col.), Rev. W. M. Morrison, 
 Rev. J. S. Crowley and Rev. L. C. Vass. 
 
 13. How did the Sunday Schools help the Mission? 
 
 By sending a small steamer, the “S. N. Lapsley,” 
 to carry supplies and missionaries up the river. 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 29 
 
 14. What disaster overtook this boat? 
 
 She was capsized in the Congo river in 1904, drown¬ 
 ing Rev. H. C. Slaymaker and over twenty of the 
 native crew. Rev. Motte Martin narrowly escaped and 
 so did the captain, Rev. L. C. Vass. 
 
 15. How was the church at home affected by this great loss, 
 
 and what was the result? 
 
 It was a great shock to the whole church, which im¬ 
 mediately set out to secure funds for the present 
 “Lapsley.” As a result the new boat was built at 
 four times the cost of the first steamer and with far 
 more conveniences and carrying power. She was com¬ 
 pleted in 1906 and is now an indispensable blessing 
 to the Mission. 
 
 16. What tribes did the first missionaries find at Luebo? 
 
 The Bakete tribe, subjects of the Bakuba king, 
 Lukengu, and a scattering of other tribes who had 
 been brought there as slaves. 
 
 17. What can you say of the Bakete? 
 
 They are small, degenerate, filthy, and have many 
 degrading customs that are absent in the better tribes. 
 They were also rather unresponsive to the gospel. 
 
 18. How did God open up new and better territory? 
 
 Thousands of Baluba and Bena Lulua moved in, until 
 the population increased from 10 to 10,000 in ten 
 years. These being a far superior people in intelli¬ 
 gence and character and representing more numerous 
 tribes, gave the missionaries a better chance to evan¬ 
 gelize the interior, especially because of their eagerness 
 for the gospel. 
 
 19. What change, therefore, was made in the policy of the 
 
 Mission ? 
 
 True to the (Bible precedent of working along the 
 lines of least resistance, they translated all the hymn 
 books, Bibles, and school books into the language 
 of the Baluba and Lulua, a language spoken (with 
 few tribal changes) by both these tribes and called, 
 therefore, Buluba-Lulua. 
 
30 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 20. What missionary reduced this language to writing? 
 
 Dr. Morrison, who wrote a large, comprehensive 
 Grammar of the language besides a “Story of the 
 Bible,” several readers for the native schools; and 
 who also translated a large part of the Bible into 
 this language. 
 
 21. What missionary cornpleted the work of translation which 
 
 Dr. Morrison laid down? 
 
 Rev. T. C. Vinson, whose translations of the New 
 Testament and part of the Old Testament have al¬ 
 ready been published and who has recently submitted 
 the rest of the Bible for publication. 
 
 22. What other text-books and literature have the mission¬ 
 
 aries in this language? 
 
 jBesides the Bible, they have charts, primers and 
 readers for the schools, a text-book on physiology and 
 hygiene, a French book for first studies, catechisms 
 for instruction of the catechumens or inquirers for 
 baptism, several text-books in use among the students 
 for the ministry, Sunday-school lessons, many tracts, 
 and several books of minor importance. 
 
 23. What may be said further of the language of the Baluba- 
 
 Lulua? 
 
 It is one of the (most widely used Bantu languages, 
 being a combination of the several different dialects, is 
 known over many thousands of square miles, and is 
 destined, in the opinion of missionaries who have stu¬ 
 died the question, to be the foundation for the final 
 language of millions of natives. This, of course, gives 
 a most wonderful opportunity to the missionaries to 
 evangelize a larger area than ever. 
 
 24. How many years did our missionaries labor before any¬ 
 
 one was brought to Christ at Luebo? 
 
 For five years. At the end of that time seven young 
 men and women finished their course of instruction and 
 were baptized. 
 
 25. Why was it necessary to wait so long? 
 
 It has always been the custom of the Mission to 
 train the people well in a catechumen class, where they 
 are instructed not only in the plan of salvation, but in 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 31 
 
 the principal teachings of God’s Word. After com¬ 
 pleting the catechism they are then put on proba¬ 
 tion until they give evidence that their lives are con¬ 
 sistently Christian. 
 
 26. What was the name of the second station, and when was 
 it founded? 
 
 Ibanche, founded in 1897 by Drs. Morrison and Shep¬ 
 pard at a village just thirty-five miles northwesit 
 
 A Village Palaver. 
 
 of Luebo. This site was chosen because the mission¬ 
 aries were refused a site farther in the heart of the 
 country, and had to settle on the edge of it. 
 
 27. What was the attitude of the Bakuba, and especially 
 
 Lukengu? 
 
 The Bakuba, who are a very conservative people, 
 did not want the missionaries. They claimed that 
 the king (who is called The Lukengu just as we call 
 the rulers of Egypt The Pharaohs), did not want white 
 men in his country. 
 
 28. What disaster overtook the Mission again in 1904, the 
 
 same year as the loss of the Lapsley? 
 
 Ibanche was burned to the ground and the mission¬ 
 aries had to flee for their lives. 
 
32 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 29. Did the missionaries abandon the work of reaching the 
 
 Bakuba? 
 
 No. They renewed their efforts and the Bakuba 
 people became more friendly. Claiming that he had 
 not intended to destroy the station of the Mission but 
 only the homes of the other white men, ithe Bakuba 
 king helped them to restore Ibanche, so that it was 
 even more beautiful than before. 
 
 30. What tribal peculiarity and what circumstances pre¬ 
 
 vented the missionaries from more aggressive work 
 
 among the Bakuba? 
 
 The Bakuba hold all other tribes in contempt, so 
 when the Baluba and Lulua natives came in large 
 numbers, they stopped coming to the school and church 
 services. To obviate this, for a long time the mis¬ 
 sionaries maintained two entirely different services, 
 one in the language of the Baluba and Lulua and 
 the other in the language of the Bakuba. 
 
 VI. THE EARLY MISSIONARIES AND THEIR 
 
 WORK. 
 
 1. What became of some of the earliest missionary pioneers? 
 
 Mrs. Adamson having died shortly after they reached 
 Luebo, Mr. Adamson returned to his native Scotland. 
 Dr. and Mrs. Sheppard, the foiimer having served in 
 Congo for nearly twenty years, became associated in the 
 work of Rev. John Little in Louisville, Ky. Rev. and 
 Mrs. Arthur Rowbotham were compelled for reasons of 
 health to relinquish the work in Africa for a pastorate 
 in Roanoke, Va. Mrs. Crowley was injured in a ham¬ 
 mock borne by native porters and with her husband 
 became associated with the work of home missions 
 in Wilmington Presbytery, North Carolina. Several 
 others, among them Rev. S. P. Verner, Rev. J. E. 
 Phipps, and Rev. H. P. Hawkins also retired from the 
 work. 
 
 2. What of Dr. Snyder and his work in Congo? 
 
 Dr. Snyder gave nearly ten years to the early work 
 of the Mission, doing medical and evangelistic work 
 from 1894 until he was forced by reasons of health 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 33 
 
 to retire from the work in 1902. He was much be¬ 
 loved by all his fellow missionaries and by the natives, 
 some of the older natives still speaking of their 
 “Nganga Buka” and his work for them. 
 
 Dr. Snyder’s sufferings for the Congo were severe. 
 On their first voyage to America, his first wife, Mrs. 
 Mae Snyder, was buried at Leopoldville after finish¬ 
 ing the first lap of the journey in quest of better 
 health. Dr. Snyder married again and brought his 
 second wife to Congo. Again they started for home, 
 this time their little one born at Luebo being in very 
 frail condition. Just as the steamer arrived in Ant¬ 
 werp the little one was gathered into the bosom of the 
 Saviour, the grief-stricken parents being far from 
 home and the warm Christian influences to which they 
 had been accustomed. 
 
 After his retirement, Dr. Snyder became pastor of 
 several churches in the Nonih and died while pastor 
 of the Huguenot Reformed Church on Staten Island, 
 New York. 
 
 3. What became of Rev. L. C. Vass? 
 
 Mr. Yass, after many years of faithful service as 
 captain on the “Lapsley,” became pastor of churches 
 in Tennessee and Georgia. 
 
 4. What two faithful colored women have left an indelible 
 
 impress on the lives of the native women in Congo? 
 
 Miss Maria Fearing and Mrs. DeYampert, nee Miss 
 Lillian Thomas. For many years they were in charge 
 of the Girls’ Home at Luebo, teaching and training 
 many of these girls who became the wives of evan¬ 
 gelists or Christian mothers in the homes of others 
 than evangelists. Some of their former pupils are now 
 raising a second generation of Christian mothers. 
 
 5. Who are some of the either missionaries who tvere asso¬ 
 
 ciated with the earlier days? 
 
 Between 1902 and 1906 there came to the field in 
 Congo the following recruits: Rev. L. A. DeYampert, 
 who retired about 1915; Miss Althea Brown, who was 
 married to Rev. A. L. Edmiston shortly after the lat¬ 
 ter reached the field; Rev. Motte Martin, who almost 
 lost his life in the capsizing of the first “Lapsley”; 
 Rev. A. A. Rochester, a native of Jamaica and a 
 
34 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 graduate of Stillman Institute; Rev. J. McC. Sieg, 
 now retired; and Mr. Wm. Scott of Glasgow. 
 
 6. Of these pioneers, who are now on the field? 
 
 Rev. and Mrs. A. L. Edmiston, Rev. Motte Martin and 
 Rev. A. A. Rochester. 
 
 7. How many missionaries have died on the field since the 
 
 founding of the Mission? 
 
 Six missionaries have died within thirty-one years, 
 while more than one hundred have been sent to the 
 field altogether. 
 
 8. Give a short sketch of Dr. Morrison's life. 
 
 Born ait Lexington, Va., November 10, 1867. Edu¬ 
 cated in the schools of Lexington and later graduated 
 from Washington and Lee University of that place. 
 Immediately upon his graduation from the Univer¬ 
 sity, at the age of twenty years, he taught for six 
 years at Segrcy, Ark. During that period of teaching 
 he gave himself to the ministry and entered the Pres¬ 
 byterian Theological Seminary at Louisville, Ky., 
 from which he graduated in 1896. During his Semi¬ 
 nary course he became impressed with the need in 
 Africa through the reading of an article in The Mis¬ 
 sionary, written by one of the Luebo (missionaries call¬ 
 ing for help; gave himself to the work, sailed in 1896, 
 and began his work in the Congo. His wonderful lin¬ 
 guistic talents caused him to be set aside for the work 
 of reducing the language of the Baluba and Lulua to 
 writing, and this he did in one of the most concise and 
 accurate grammars of the Bantu language. For twenty 
 years he labored in the Congo, translating not only 
 the grammar of the Buluba-Lulua language, but sev¬ 
 eral readers, Sunday-school leaflets, and a “Story of 
 the Bible,” which gave a general idea of the historical 
 portions of the Bible as well as paraphrases of the 
 Epistles. His long fight for the rights, religious and 
 political, of the natives as well as his intimate knowl¬ 
 edge of native affairs made him one of the most con¬ 
 spicuous missionaries in Africa during his genera¬ 
 tion, and brought him into prominence with British 
 and Belgian officials. He was distinctly the leading 
 spirit of the Presbyterian Mission, the younger mis¬ 
 sionaries reverencing him not only as a spiritual father 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 35 
 
 but as a consecrated Christian gentleman, whose coun¬ 
 sel was always wise and thoroughly thought out be¬ 
 forehand. In brief, he was one of the greatest mis¬ 
 sionary statesmen that our church has produced. (For 
 an accurate, interesting and full account of his life 
 see “Life of William McCutchen Morrison: Twenty 
 Years in Central Africa,” by T. C. Vinson.) 
 
 9. Who was the first missionary physician? 
 
 Dr. Llewellyn J. Coppedge, who spent about ten 
 years in the Congo and endeared himself to all the 
 natives and missionaries by his medical and (mission¬ 
 ary labors. Laiter he became the first physician of our 
 Mexico Mission. 
 
 VII. NATIVE AND MISSIONARY LIFE. 
 
 1. What are the principal tribes among whom our mission¬ 
 
 aries are working? 
 
 There are three principal tribes among whom our 
 missionaries are working, the Baluba, Lulua and 
 Bakuba. Another, the Bena Koshi, may be considered 
 as a fourth; for, although they are made up of Lulua 
 and Baluba elements mingled with those of a people 
 coming north of the Sankuru River, they maintain a 
 separate and distinct life and consider themselves an 
 entirely separate tribe. 
 
 2. What is meant exactly by a tribe? Give some little idea 
 
 of their origin. 
 
 The tribe is a family or clan springing from one 
 original source. To define a tribe, we must think of 
 the analogous case of Abraham, who left his home in 
 the East and became father of a multitude, not only 
 the ancestor of the Children of Israel, but of the Ish- 
 maelites, Edomites and Amalekites. The ^Baluba and 
 Lulua probably sprang from one ancestor, but the 
 children of that ancestor, as the land became too great 
 for their support, separated and formed other tribes. 
 The Baluba people are made up of forty or fifty dif¬ 
 ferent tribes or families, all of them very large and 
 powerful; the Lulua are made up of not less than 
 sixty, and probably nearly a hundred different tribes; 
 the Bakuba comprise less than a dozen tribes, though 
 
36 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 they hold sway over many others of Lulua origin; the 
 Bena Koshi are made up of about one dozen different 
 tribes. To describe these tribes in particular would 
 require a book in itself. 
 
 3. What language do these people speak? 
 
 The Baluba, Lulua and Bena Koshi all speak a lan¬ 
 guage that is called the Buluba-Lulua because spoken 
 both by Baluba and by the Lulua with tribal inflec¬ 
 tions and changes; the Bakuba speak what is known 
 as Bushongo or Bukuba, the Bakuba people them¬ 
 selves being known as the iBashongo. The language 
 of a people is designated by the prefix Bu- while the 
 people are designated by the prefix Ba-. 
 
 4. For how many people in the Congo has our Church un¬ 
 
 dertaken the responsibility of bringing the light 
 
 of salvation? 
 
 For at least two millions or more; no accurate cen¬ 
 sus having been taken, we are left only to estimate the 
 number from the tax returns. Mutoto and Luebo 
 alone are responsible for the evangelization of more 
 than one million, while Bulape, Bibanga and Lusambo 
 have large populations for which they are responsible. 
 
 5. If our church fails in this responsibility, who can assume 
 
 it? 
 
 Apparently no other church can assume it, as we 
 have given our pledge to the world that we ourselves 
 shall assume it. 
 
 6. What is a native village? 
 
 A native village is a group of huts fronting on ir¬ 
 regularly laid out streets and containing anywhere 
 from one hundred to four or five thousand people. Some 
 of the larger villages in the region near Bibanga nuftn- 
 ber as many as six or eight thousand. As the Gov¬ 
 ernment is gathering together all of the villages of 
 one tribe, the average village will number in excess 
 of five hundred people. Some of the chiefs settle around 
 a large tree resembling an oak, and the Basonge vil¬ 
 lages are notably beautiful for their palm trees. 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 37 
 
 7. Who governs the people in these villages? 
 
 The head-chief, who is generally known as the 
 “medal-chief” because his authority is recognized by 
 the State and he wears a nickel medal with the insignia 
 of the Belgian Government. Under the medal-chief 
 there are the “nyampara,” who control the different 
 clans of the tribe, and the sub-chiefs, who are under 
 these “nyampara.” 
 
 One Practical Result of Foreign Missions. 
 
 8. In what kind of houses do the natives live? 
 
 There are four prevailing types of houses in the 
 section where we are working, the kind of house de¬ 
 pending on the tribe. The more degenerate Lulua 
 live in grass huts or huts made of large leaves re¬ 
 sembling the banana leaf; the better class of Lulua 
 live in small mud-and-stick or stucco houses made by 
 tying palm-limbs or smaller sticks to upright poles in 
 the ground, daubing in the crevices with mud, and with 
 a neatly thatched roof overhead. The Baluba almost 
 without exception build much larger mud-and-stick 
 houses, those living on the almost treeless plains hav¬ 
 ing to build larger grass houses in the form of a large 
 
38 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 haystack. The Bakuba and subject tribes nearly all 
 build a neatly thatched house out of palmetto-palm 
 leaves. The Bakuba house is so built that they can 
 be taken apart and set up in six sections, so the vil¬ 
 lages can be quickly moved from one spot to another. 
 The Bakuba and Basonge always settle near a palm 
 thicket. 
 
 9. What do the natives eat? 
 
 The diet also varies with the tribe. The staple diet for 
 all the natives is the cassava-root flour and the tender 
 green leaves of the manioc or cassava plant. These 
 cassava roots furnish us with tapioca and contain a 
 great deal of nourishment. The flour is prepared by 
 beating the roots in a large mortar formed out of a 
 tree trunk, the roots being soaked in water or mud and 
 dried in the sun before being beaten. 
 
 The Baluba vary their diet by large use of corn 
 meal, and the Lulua and Baluba, as well as the Bakete 
 (a tribe subject to the Bakuba) use large quantities 
 of millet flour. Besides these cereals, they raise po¬ 
 tatoes, okra, pumpkins, egg-plants, tomatoes and a 
 few other vegetables; the quantity of vegetables, etc., 
 depends on (the industry of the tribe. Peanuts are 
 very common, especially among the Bakete and Bakuba. 
 Then the natives hunt quite frequently and vary the 
 domestic Imeats with antelope, wild hog, elephant, hip¬ 
 pos, and other animals. 
 
 Among the delicacies of which the natives are fond 
 are: fowls, goats, grasshoppers, monkeys, white-ants 
 field-rats (seldom house-rats), armadillos and some¬ 
 times snakes and large lizards, especially the iguana. 
 
 10. How does the native cultivate the soil? 
 
 The Lulua depend almost solely on the women for 
 the cultivation of the fields and the men must be forced 
 to work, so the cultivation of the soil among them is 
 the burning off of a plain and the planting of cassava, 
 millet, and potatoes or peanuts. The Baluba, being 
 among the most industrious natives of the Congo, will 
 clear the forest by felling tremendous trees with a 
 small axe about four inches long and an inch and a 
 half broad. The trees are allowed to dry and then 
 fire is started and most of the lighter branches and 
 twigs are consumed. The native then proceeds to 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 39 
 
 clear as much space as possible with his little axe and 
 by burning away the heavier trunks, after which he 
 begins to dig the soil with a small hoe. This hoe is 
 furnished with a handle not over two feet long; give 
 him a longer hoe and he will try to break or cut the 
 handle until he gets it down to his size. With this 
 hoe and his axe and fire he will gradually clear away 
 and plant rather roughly about two acres each year, 
 enlarging this as his industry and family permit. There 
 are no plows nor harrows, the hoe and axe forming 
 the only implements he knows in his native state. 
 
 11. What plants have the missionaries and other Europeans 
 
 introduced? 
 
 The ground in most instances being fertile, there 
 have been introduced most of the common vegeta¬ 
 bles grown at home, especially such as grow in the 
 South, besides oranges, lemons, limes, beautiful pine¬ 
 apples, much better bananas, mangoes, papaws (known 
 as papayas in the tropics and being far superior to 
 the common paw-paw in the South) and several other 
 different kinds of plants. Many of the native vege¬ 
 tables and fruits, such as bananas, have been super¬ 
 seded by the introduction of better stock. 
 
 12. What plan has the Government for introducing fruits and 
 
 ornamental shrubbery? 
 
 A tropical garden is maintained by the Government 
 at Eala, on the Congo River, and fruits and plants of 
 every description may be had almost for the asking. 
 
 13. What do the natives wear? 
 
 Contrary to common opinion, almost all of the na¬ 
 tives wear some little clothing, though this is very 
 meager among those tribes who are not in immediate 
 contact with the white people. Those not in imimediate 
 contact with the white man wear a simple loin cloth 
 of raphia palm or cloth obtained in barter, some wear¬ 
 ing skins of animals. Foreign cloth is often used even 
 among tribes who have little or no intercourse with 
 foreigners. The Bakuba and all their subject tribes 
 wear a full skirt of native-woven palm-fibre, this be* 
 ing draped around the lower part of the bodies by both 
 men and women while the upper part of the body is 
 bare. The natives who are in immediate contact with 
 
40 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 foreigners wear variegated costumes made of fancy 
 cloth sold in European stores, or cast-off clothing of 
 foreigners, soldiers’ uniforms, uniforms of postmen, 
 conductors, and other public men in Europe. Some 
 are very neatly and sensibly dressed in simple cloth¬ 
 ing made from blue indigo or strong white cotton cloth; 
 nearly all our native evangelists are thus clothed. 
 
 14. Where do the natives get foreign clothes? 
 
 A great imany Europeans have stores or what are 
 generally known as “magasins” in the Congo, which 
 carry on a brisk trade in second-hand clothing, varie¬ 
 gated cloth and uniforms. After the War a great 
 many of the soldiers’ uniforms found their way out 
 here and are being worn to the great delectation of 
 the natives in Congo. Many of the natives own sew¬ 
 ing machines and many of them make first-rate tailors 
 and are patronized by white people as well. 
 
 15. How do the natives trade? 
 
 They have certain days for markets, to which they 
 bring their produce and exchange with others for Eu¬ 
 ropean wares. The articles of barter are various na¬ 
 tive plants, goats, chickens, ducks, caterpillars, ants, 
 palm-oil, potatoes, mats, pots, bottles, knives and (many 
 other things useful for household and dress. 
 
 16. Where are some of the largest of these markets held? 
 
 At Luebo there is a very large market near the Mis¬ 
 sion compound, and at all our stations there are rather 
 large markets. The Luebo market was once the largest 
 in the country, numbering from three to four thousand 
 natives every Saturday. 
 
 17. With what do missionaries and natives barter? 
 
 Salt, cloth and money (special currency of the 
 Congo) form the principal mediulm of exchange; but 
 often, especially at our interior stations, one can use 
 cowrie-shells, bottles, cans, matches, moth-balls, safe¬ 
 ty-pins, needles, thread, mirrors and beads in buying 
 native produce. The missionary finds at the native 
 markets such things as baskets, mats, eggs, some na¬ 
 tive vegetables, water-jars, and palm-oil. Each station 
 maintains a store for the purpose of selling a few 
 articles in order to get francs enough to keep in cur- 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 41 
 
 rency; otherwise one would have great difficulty in 
 getting supplies or in paying workmen. 
 
 18. Where do the missionaries get most of their foreign sup¬ 
 
 plies ? 
 
 Clothing and groceries, medical and household sup¬ 
 plies are bought mainly in England or Belgium. For 
 many years Messrs. Whyte, Ridsdale and Company in 
 England supplied our missionaries, but the purchasing 
 and shipping in Belgium have been found much more 
 to our satisfaction. Supplies are ordered a year in 
 advance, as they are often as long as six or eight 
 months in reaching us after being shipped. 
 
 19. What kind of houses do the missionaries live in? 
 
 At present many Imissionaries are living in the old 
 mud-and-stick houses that were uniformly used before 
 the coming of industrial builders who could put up 
 more substantial and more healthful houses. These mud- 
 and-stick houses were a larger edition of the native 
 house of that type, with more rooms and windows and 
 raised higher from the ground. The ladies of the 
 Southern Presbyterian Church have raised a consider¬ 
 able sum of money for better houses and on several 
 stations brick houses of a more healthful and sub¬ 
 stantial type are superseding the stucco houses. The 
 housing problem, especially at Mutoto Station, is quite 
 serious and we are praying for more builders to come 
 to the help of those who are seeking to build these 
 homes with the money the ladies have provided. 
 
 20. Why can not our Mission build houses quickly? 
 
 Because there are no native or European contractors 
 to whom we can turn for this work. There are only 
 five industrial men on the whole Mission and one of 
 these must train the natives at the Carson Industrial 
 School at Luebo. The others must work with many 
 almost overwhelming obstacles against them. 
 
 21. What may be said of the health of our missionaries at 
 
 the various stations? 
 
 On the whole, the health of the missionaries is very 
 good indeed and will compare very favorably with that 
 of any set of missionaries working in tropical countries. 
 Very few deaths have occurred and these were almost 
 
42 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 entirely confined to the early years of the Mission. 
 Most of the breakdowns can be traced to overwork 
 and not to the climate, the pressure of great numbers 
 of natives being too great for so few missionaries. 
 
 22. Tell something of how the missionaries travel in Congo. 
 
 The ordinary form of (travel is by hammock carried 
 on the shoulders of natives. From six to eight natives 
 are necessary, these taking turns in carrying two-by- 
 two. The men use bicycles with great advantage, and 
 these and motorcycles are gradually replacing the 
 hammock with evangelistic missionaries especially. 
 
 23. Can motor vehicles he used with ease? 
 
 As the Belgian Government has built many miles of 
 good roads during the past three or four years, one 
 can travel by motorcycle over the larger routes, but 
 must trust to hammock and bicycle as he leaves the 
 regular beaten paths. In a few years, it is thought, 
 all of the villages will be moved up to these motor 
 roads and then they can be reached by motorcycle or 
 by automobile. 
 
 24. How do missionaries now live on an itinerary? 
 
 It is necessary to take along all the food to be used, 
 although one can generally find some native vegetables, 
 especially when with our evangelists. A tent is hardly 
 ever necessary as one can either use the evangelists’ 
 houses or the larger State rest-houses. But cooking 
 utensils, medicines and camping outfit must be taken. 
 Besides the cook and one or two boys who must be also 
 taken along, the caravan will number anywhere from 
 fifteen to a hundred men, the supplies all being carried 
 on the shoulders of native porters. 
 
 25. What is done on an evangelistic itinerary? 
 
 An evangelistic itinerary usually requires a smaller 
 number of men as the missionary travels slowly and 
 is usually travelling lightly. Churches are visited; 
 inquirers for baptism are examined and if found ready 
 for it are baptized; those who are found to be living 
 in sin are dismissed from the church, their names be¬ 
 ing read out at one of the services; the people are en¬ 
 couraged and advised with on any problems relating 
 to their Christian lives in the village; the evangelists 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 43 
 
 are also advised as to their weak points; and every 
 effort is made to encourage the evangelist and his 
 flock to persevere in the face of overwhelming tempta¬ 
 tions. 
 
 Students at Bible School, Mutoto. 
 
 2fi. Why are these evangelistic itineraries of prime impor¬ 
 tance and what hinders our missionaries from doing 
 more of this work? 
 
 The evangelistic itinerary is of prime importance be¬ 
 cause in no other way can the missionary get at the 
 heart of the problems pertaining to the church at large; 
 the local station reaches only a very small proportion 
 of the church members and inquirers for baptism as 
 the outstations of Luebo and Mutoto alone number 
 more than two hundred for each station. These itin¬ 
 eraries cannot be taken more frequently because of 
 the necessity of having missionaries at the station 
 base teaching and training the native evangelists. 
 
 27. What missionaries have recently done a great deal of 
 this work of itineration? 
 
 Rev. J. K. Hobson at Luebo Station and Rev. Plumer 
 Smith at Mutoto. Mr. Smith practically lived in the 
 
44 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 outstations during his last year before going on fur¬ 
 lough. 
 
 28. What is generally the attitude of the natives toward the 
 missionaries on these itineraries? 
 
 They receive the missionary with enthusiasm and 
 often accompany him into their villages with songs 
 and shouts, raising the dust and almost choking him 
 with their demonstrations. He is brought presents of 
 food and fowls and otherwise treated with native hos¬ 
 pitality. The evangelists put their houses at his dis¬ 
 posal and bring firewood and water for his comfort. 
 
 VIII. LATER HISTORY. FOUNDING OF 
 OTHER STATIONS. 
 
 Luebo 
 
 1. What became of the handful of natives who were first 
 
 received into the Luebo Church? 
 
 Like the leaven that the woman hid in three measures 
 of meal until the whole was leavened, the first con¬ 
 verts spread the gospel among their fellow men until 
 the church at Luebo became one of the largest Presby¬ 
 terian Churches in the world. 
 
 2. Were all these converts received at Luebo alone? 
 
 No, many of them were received at the outstations, 
 all outstations being included in the membership of 
 the station. 
 
 3. What is an outpost or oaitstation? 
 
 It is a village to which an evangelist is sent from 
 one of the main stations. Each station is assigned a 
 certain territory as its zone within which evangelistic 
 work must be conducted, and each village having a resi¬ 
 dent evangelist within this territory is called an “out- 
 station” because it a small station under the super¬ 
 vision of the main station. The work at these out¬ 
 stations is largely a replica of that at the (main sta¬ 
 tions. 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 45 
 
 4. What other institutions were founded at Luebo in later 
 
 years? 
 
 The John Leighton Wilson Printing Press, the Mc- 
 Keowen Memorial Hospital, Panitops Home, Carson In¬ 
 dustrial School. 
 
 5. What can be said of the importance of the John Leighton 
 
 Wilson Press? 
 
 It is of vital importance to the work of the Mission. 
 All text-books and all literature with the exception of 
 Bibles are printed on its presses. Bibles are for con¬ 
 venience printed by the British and Foreign Bible 
 Society or the American Bible Society. 
 
 6. What about the Pantops Home? 
 
 This is a home for native girls where hundreds of 
 them have been trained for wives of evangelists or for 
 other Christian homes. For twenty years Miss Maria 
 Fearing was in charge, assisted at different times by 
 Mrs. DeYampert, formerly Miss Thomas, Mrs. 
 Anne Taylor Rochester, and Mrs. Edmisiton, all of 
 them faithful colored women well-equipped for their 
 task. Following Miss Fearing the home has been under 
 the supervision of Mrs. Edmiston, Mrs. McElroy, Mrs. 
 McKinnon, Mrs. Cleveland, Mrs. Allen and Miss Ida 
 McLean Black. 
 
 7. What about the McKeowen Memorial Hospital? 
 
 This was built by Mr. Hillhouse in 1914-1915 and 
 was furnished and equipped through the liberality of 
 friends in the homeland and the ingenuity and me¬ 
 chanical genius of Dr. Stixrud. In 1921 the hospital 
 was destroyed by fire but was rebuilt again by Mr. 
 Hillhouse through the liberality of the McKeowens. 
 
 The work of the hospital is unique among the hos¬ 
 pitals of the Congo. During the year 1922 over thirty 
 thousand treatments of various kinds were given pa¬ 
 tients from every section of the country. 
 
 8. Tell something of the work of the Carson Industrial 
 
 School. 
 
 This school, made possible by the liberality of Mr. 
 R. C. Carson of Whiteville, N. C., and erected by Mr. 
 C. R. Stegall, who has been the Superintendent since its 
 founding, is designed to train the natives in carpentry, 
 
46 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 brick-laying, tanning of hides, shoe-making and re¬ 
 pairing, and other useful trades. Many young men 
 have been graduated here and have gone out to fill 
 places of usefulness in the Congo. 
 
 9. What about the evangelistic work of Luebo station? 
 
 The evangelistic work of this station is one of the 
 largest of the Mission. The local evangelistic work, 
 owing to the grouping of many thousands of natives 
 around the Mission and State Post, is quite the largest 
 on the Mission and probably the largest single piece 
 of evangelistic work in the Congo. The outstations, 
 numbering 210, are outnumbered only by those of 
 Mutoto Station, which has over 230. It should be 
 said, too, that the other stations have drawn their 
 life largely from Luebo as the mother station, many 
 of the Luebo evangelists having started the work at 
 the other stations. 
 
 10. What became of the work at South Luebo? 
 
 South Luebo, which was formerly manned by Rev. 
 arid Mrs. N. G. Stevens, followed by Rev. and Mrs. 
 A. C. McKinnon, did a fine work among the local vil¬ 
 lages centered around the State Post and also among 
 the prisoners of the State, who are sent to Luebo as 
 the capital of the Kasai District of the Congo. Owing 
 to (the fact that many of these villages were removed 
 by the State, and also because of the inadequate force 
 at Luebo Station proper, the station at South Luebo 
 was abandoned and all the work there placed under 
 the supervision of the Luebo Station. Work is still 
 maintained, as before, among the remaining villages, 
 but the station property has been sold to the Govern¬ 
 ment. 
 
 11. What became of the good work that had been done at 
 
 Ibanche? 
 
 As a large part of it had been in behalf of the Lu- 
 lua and Baluba, a good evangelist was placed there 
 for work among these people, the oversight of this 
 particular phase of the work being assigned to Luebo 
 Station. The work that had been, done among the 
 Bakuba was transferred to .Bulape Station. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Edmiston were then assigned other work at Luebo, 
 finally being placed at Mutoto for the agricultural 
 work of the Morrison Bible School. 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 47 
 
 Bulape 
 
 12. What station, then, took the place of Ibanche? 
 
 The station at Bakua Nzeba, named in honor of 
 Mrs. Anne Taylor Rochester, Bulape, and founded by 
 Messrs. Washburn and Allen in 1915. 
 
 13. What missionaries have been closely identified with the 
 
 work among the Bakuba? 
 
 Rev. and Mrs. A. L. Edmiston, Rev. and Mrs. J. McC. 
 Sieg, Rev. and Mrs. H. M. Washburn, Rev. and Mrs. 
 C. T. Wharton, Miss Elda May Fair. 
 
 14. Who are now at Bulape? 
 
 Rev. and Mrs. H. M. Washburn, Rev. and Mrs. C. T. 
 Wharton, Rev. and Mrs. J. W. Allen and Miss Emma 
 Larson, the latter having been assigned during 1922 
 as the trained nurse of that station. 
 
 15. What important educational work is done at Bulape? 
 
 The training of native evangelists by the Rev. J. W. 
 Allen in the Bulape Bible School; the Maria Carey 
 Home for Girls, now under the superintendency of 
 Mrs. Washburn; and the day schools under Mrs. Allen. 
 
 16. What has been done in providing the Bakuba with a lit¬ 
 
 erature ? 
 
 Mrs. Edmiston has done good work in translating 
 hymns and readers for the schools and has also com¬ 
 piled a Bukuba Grammar; Mrs. Rochester and others 
 likewise translated hymns into this language; and 
 Mr. Wharton is now at work in providing for the 
 Bakuba what has been done for the Baluba in the way 
 of a literature, translating -a “Story of the Bible,” be¬ 
 sides several new readers. 
 
 17. What other missionary has been one of the “wheel- 
 
 horses” of the Bakuba work? 
 
 Rev. H. M. Washburn, whose tireless energy, tactful 
 zeal, and consecrated Christian life have made him an 
 unique figure in this work. He has done a large part 
 of the building of the station as well as carrying his 
 full load of the evangelistic work. 
 
48 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 18. What is the outlook for the Bakuha work now? 
 
 Apparently most premising. Already many villages 
 have moved up to the station to get the benefit of the 
 church and school, and over 500 members have been 
 received into the churcn. The Bakuba king, Lukengu, 
 who holds sway over a large territory and is really the 
 only native king in this section, has shown every indica¬ 
 tion of his favor towards the Protestant missionaries 
 in contrast with his disfavor of the Romanists. 
 
 Mutoto 
 
 19. Where is Mutoto Station and why was it founded? 
 
 It is about 140 miles southeast of Luebo just a little 
 off the route between Luebo and Lusambo, and is situ¬ 
 ated among the Lulua and Bena Koshi people. The 
 site was chosen by Dr. and Mrs. Morrison shortly be¬ 
 fore the death of the latter, and was formally opened by 
 Rev. Motte Martin in 1911, but Messrs. McKee and 
 Bedinger with Mrs. McKee were the first resident mis¬ 
 sionaries. 
 
 20. For whom was Mutoto named? 
 
 For Mrs. Morrison whose native name was Mutoto, 
 a star. 
 
 21. What may be said of its early history? 
 
 After it was opened by Mr. Martin, Mr. Prichard 
 occupied it for a few months until his furlough, after 
 which Ntumba Luke, a splendid native evangelist, was 
 put in charge in the absence of a missionary to man it. 
 Ntumba Luke managed all the evangelistic work of 
 the station, paying the workmen, conducting a school 
 and church and showing quite a great deal of wisdom 
 and discretion in its management. 
 
 22. Who followed Messrs. Bedinger and McKee? 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Rochester, Mr. and Mrs. Allen, Mr. 
 Plumer Smith and Mr. Hillhouse. In a short while, 
 however, the Allens were forced to leave on account 
 of Mr. Allen’s health requiring him to be near the doc¬ 
 tor, Mr. and Mrs. McKee left for furlough and Messrs. 
 Bedinger and Hillhouse were sent to open Lusambo 
 Station. This left the Rochesters and Mr. Smith at 
 the station. 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 49 
 
 23. What sad death occurred at Mutoto in 1914? 
 
 The death of Mrs. Rochester, who was beloved by 
 everybody, missionaries and natives, and of whom a 
 native once said, “She never showed herself, she showed 
 the Christ.” 
 
 24. What of the later progress of the work at Mutoto? 
 
 It progressed to a wonderful degree. In 1914 more 
 converts were baptized at this one station than were 
 
 Ready for the Trail. 
 
 baptized on the whole Mission during the first eleven 
 years. The child of Luebo Station soon outstripped 
 the mother in the number of outstations. The terri¬ 
 tory stretches from the Lulua River in the west as far 
 as the Lubi in the east, as far south as Dibaya and 
 as far north as Lusambo. It now has 265 native evan¬ 
 gelists, including one ordained pastor, several elders 
 and several deacons; 227 outstations in the Mutoto 
 territory proper and 24 in the Lusalmbo territory. 
 
50 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 25. What ti'ibes are reached from Mutoto? 
 
 A large number of the Lulua, the Baluba tribes of 
 the Bakwa Kalonshi ka Mpuka, and the Bena Koshi. 
 
 26. What important educational institution is at Mutoto? 
 
 The Morrison Bible School, which is the central 
 training school for the native evangelists. Every sta¬ 
 tion on the Mission has its students in the student 
 body. 
 
 27. Give some little account of this institution. 
 
 It was founded at Luebo in 1913 and in a few years 
 grew from a mere handful of students to a student 
 body of over one hundred. In 1918 it was moved to 
 Mutoto on account of the central location of that sta¬ 
 tion and the student body has numbered nearly 200 
 ever since then. The course of study covers a period 
 of four years, the students being required to complete 
 the regular course in the day schools before entering. 
 Besides the work of the classroom these students are 
 given training in agriculture and are required to do 
 so many hours of manual training each day in order 
 to comply with the requirements for graduation. 
 
 In 1921 the Mission again ordered that the curricu¬ 
 lum be changed to include handcraft and carpentry 
 and also added several new missionaries to the faculty. 
 As soon as the personnel is found to aid in carrying 
 out the plans and policies this institution will take rank 
 among the very best training schools in Africa. 
 
 28. What other institution is located at Mutoto? 
 
 The Maria Fearing Girls’ Home, which was founded 
 in 1920. 
 
 29. Where do the students of these two institutions get their 
 
 training in agriculture? 
 
 At the farm which is attached to Mutoto Station and 
 containing over 300 acres. 
 
 30. What of the future importance of Mutoto? 
 
 As it is almost exactly the geographical center of 
 the entire territory and has been made the educational 
 center of the Mission, the importance of Mutoto Sta¬ 
 tion can scarcely be overestimated. 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 51 
 
 31. When and where was Lusambo Station founded? 
 
 It was founded by Messrs. McKee and Bedinger in 
 1913 on the Sankuru River about 125 miles from Mu- 
 toto. It was formally opened by Messrs. Bedinger and 
 Hillhouse in 1913. 
 
 32. Who were the first resident missionaries? 
 
 Mr. Bedinger and Mr. Hillhouse. Shortly after Mr. 
 Hillhouse left the station, Mr. and Mrs. McKinnon 
 were placed there. Afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Sieg 
 were transferred from Ibanche and were at Lusambo 
 until 1915. 
 
 33. What of the early years of this work? 
 
 The work advanced in spite of the intense opposi¬ 
 tion and even persecution by the Roman Catholics. In 
 a short while more than thirty outstations had been 
 added to the station. From the very start the people 
 of the station showed a more than usual earnestness 
 and zeal for the work. This continued when Mr. and 
 Mrs. Bedinger returned from furlough. 
 
 34. What was the condition of the work in 1921-1922? 
 
 At that time the station had 68 outstations, of which 
 48 were supported by the native church, the local 
 church had grown in numbers and influence until 
 their “faith was spoken of throughout the regions” 
 adjacent, and the entire membership, including both 
 that of the local church and that in the outstations, 
 had reached the total of over 450. 
 
 35. What important changes have recently been made in the 
 
 status of Lusambo Station? 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Bedinger having been transferred to 
 Mutoto as members of the faculty of the Morrison 
 Bible School, Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland, who had taken 
 their places, were shortly to leave on furlough. Other 
 reasons working with these caused the Mission Meet¬ 
 ing of 1922 to transfer the evangelistic and educa¬ 
 tional work of the station to Mutoto and Bibanga Sta¬ 
 tions, leaving Lusambo as a transport base. 
 
52 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 36. What was done with the local evangelistic and educa¬ 
 
 tional work? 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Higgins of the Methodist Mission, be¬ 
 ing located at Lusambo as joint transport and business 
 man for the Presbyterian and Methodist Missions, took 
 charge of the work of the local church and school and 
 have continued this work ever since. They have been 
 assisted by the native pastor and elders of the church. 
 
 37. What other missionaries are also at Lusambo Station? 
 
 Captain and Mrs. Daumery of the “S. S. Lapsley,” 
 which plys up and down the Sankuru and Kasai and 
 Lulua Rivers. These two missionaries are members 
 of the Belgian Protestant Church besides being mem¬ 
 bers of our own Mission. 
 
 38. What shoidd further be said of the “Lapsley's” transport 
 
 work? 
 
 It is one of the biggest paying investments of the 
 church besides a missionary agency. Without it we 
 would pay exorbitant rates for all supplies brought up 
 rivers and would be subjected to every (manner of delay 
 and inconvenience. 
 
 Bibanga 
 
 39. Where is Bibanga and when was it founded? 
 
 Bibanga is in the central portion of the Baluba 
 territory, about 140 miles to the southeast of Mutoto 
 and occupying a position in the heart of one of the 
 finest tribes in Congo. It was founded in 1917 by 
 Messrs. McKee and Edhegard, the latter a Swedish 
 missionary residing at that time on our Mission. 
 
 40. What of the site first chosen? 
 
 The first site chosen was at the village of a powerful 
 native chief, Mbwa Mutumba by name. One of the 
 officers of the Be!,gian Government who was very 
 favorable to the Roman Catholics so manipulated mat¬ 
 ters that our missionaries were forced to abandon 
 this site chosen. However, this turned out to be the 
 very hand of God, who led our missionaries to choose 
 a much more beautiful and healthful site two hours 
 from the former and located on a hill overlooking the 
 Lubilashi Valley from a height of over 3,000 feet. 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 53 
 
 Thus Bibanga may be called the “Asheville of our 
 Congo Mission,” though it is even higher than Ashe¬ 
 ville. 
 
 41. What missionaries followed Mr. and Mrs. McKee? 
 
 Mr. Hillhouse gave several months to the work of 
 construction of the first houses, and Dr. and Mrs. Kel- 
 lersberger were sent there from Lusambo in 1918. 
 
 42. Who have also been connected with the work of the Sta¬ 
 
 tion? 
 
 Rev. and Mrs. W. F. McElroy, Miss Ruby Rogers, 
 a trained nurse, Rev. and Mrs. V. A. Anderson and 
 Rev. and Mrs. J. H. Longenecker, Mr. Longenecker 
 having charge of 'the construction work of the sta¬ 
 tion. 
 
 43. What of the buildings at this station? 
 
 This station, though one of the newest, is one of the 
 best equipped of all our stations, owing mainly to 
 the fact that there was no building material near at 
 hand and our Imissionaries were forced to build in 
 bricks. Lumber and trees are very scarce in that 
 section and must be brought in from a considerable 
 distance. 
 
 44. What of the general work of the station? 
 
 The evangelistic work is most promising. One of 
 the best features of the work now is that we are now 
 no longer working in ignorance of the extent of our 
 territory but all has been carefully explored and 
 mapped out, the limits being clearly delineated and 
 agreements having been reached with the Northern 
 Methodist Mission as to the responsibility of each 
 mission. 
 
 There are 89 outstations, exclusive of those turned 
 over by Lusambo Station to Bibanga, one ordained 
 worker and 71 other evangelists, while many villages 
 are calling loudly for evangelists. 
 
 45. What, then, is the future of Bibanga Station? 
 
 The future is bright with promise. The Baluba peo¬ 
 ple have supplied the best evangelists of the Mission 
 and now that we are at the very source of the supply, 
 our Mission should be able in a few years to depend 
 on Bibanga for evangelistic supply. 
 
54 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 IX. PRESENT POLICIES. CONCLUSION. 
 
 1. What does a native evangelist do besides preaching and 
 
 pastoral work? 
 
 He is supposed to maintain a day school wherever 
 he goes and to uplift the native by any kind of social 
 work, by encouraging them in the raising of more 
 food stuffs, by his teaching on hygiene and sanitation 
 as well as the application of a few simple remedies 
 for the more common diseases, and by doing anything 
 possible to bring light into their darkness. He is not 
 allowed to mingle in the affairs of the chief or of the 
 Government. 
 
 2. What about the wives of the evangelists and their train¬ 
 
 ing? 
 
 The wives of the evangelists are expected to help 
 their husbands with the work in any way possible, es¬ 
 pecially with the wctnen’s and children’s work. Many 
 of them are untrained and can do little or nothing, 
 others do very satisfactory work. The Mission is tak¬ 
 ing active steps to see that all evangelists’ wives are 
 given some training. 
 
 3. What special training is given our evangelists and their 
 
 wives? 
 
 Besides the ordinary classroom work done at the 
 Bible Schools of Bulape and at Mutoto, and the agri¬ 
 cultural work that is done by the men, there are spe¬ 
 cial efforts made to teach and train them in the prin¬ 
 ciples of neatness, sanitation, hygiene, proper ventila¬ 
 tion, better preparation of food, care of children and 
 better housing. This is done by providing special 
 dormitories and special dining arrangements at these 
 stations for single men, and by the erection of Imodel 
 homes for the married men. Classes are held for 
 women by the ladies of the station; classes for teach¬ 
 ing Bible lessons, sewing, and proper feeding and care 
 of children. Attendance on the day schools is com¬ 
 pulsory for the women as well as the men. Their spir¬ 
 itual lives are especially nourished by the services on 
 the stations and by the establishing of family altars; 
 also by the holding of their own prayer meetings to¬ 
 gether. 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 55 
 
 4. What great problem is now presented in the training of 
 evangelists? 
 
 The greatest problem is to coordinate the work of 
 those who receive better and (more careful training 
 with the old line evangelists who were sent out in the 
 days of the mass movement in the Kasai, when little 
 training was given these men and when they were 
 
 Lukenga, the Paralytic Chief, who had himself carried to the 
 meeting of the Mission so that he might, personally, 
 ask for a missionary. 
 
 sent to hold down the villages in order to prevent 
 their being occupied by the Romanists before we could 
 train men properly. However, this matter will soon 
 be obviated by the gradual elimination of inefficient 
 evangelists and the substitution of trained men. 
 
 5. What special features are prominent in all our stations 
 
 as a means of teaching the Bible, especially to the 
 older generation of evangelists? 
 
 The regular conferences, during which the Bible is 
 expounded and taught. Also Bible classes are held 
 at the stations and these men are brought in from 
 time to time to be given some training. 
 
 6. Why can a native evangelist be supported on so much less 
 
 than a'missionary? 
 
 Because he can “live as the natives do,” whereas 
 such a policy would be not only fatal to the health 
 
56 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 of the missionary, but would likewise lose him his hold 
 on the native. The native can live on some delicacies 
 such as grasshoppers, locusts, lizards, monkeys and 
 other things revolting to the missionary or other Cau¬ 
 casian palate. The native can live with little or no 
 clothing where exposure would kill a missionary. And 
 he can live very comfortably in a little house twenty 
 feet by twelve, where even the advocates of “live-as- 
 the-natives-do” would find that their missionary ef¬ 
 ficiency would be fatally crippled. 
 
 As a matter of fact, however, the missionaries do 
 try to approach as nearly as possible the native life, 
 living off what they can raise together with what 
 native produce can be found. Otherwise their worse 
 than inadequate salaries would never provide for the 
 many calls on their charity, the education of their 
 children and the maintenance of a decent standard of 
 living such as might command the respect of the na¬ 
 tive. 
 
 7. What besides the preaching of the gospel is the Mission 
 
 doing for the uplift of the masses of the people ? 
 
 The masses of the people will be mainly touched 
 and enlightened through the ministry of the native 
 evangelists, and for this reason our Mission is laying 
 more and more stress on the training very carefully 
 of these men to become the leaders of their people 
 socially and civically as well as religiously. However, 
 special efforts are made in other directions, and these 
 Imay be stated as follows: (1) Industrial education 
 such as is done at the Carson Industrial School, which 
 besides providing a more or less technical and scien¬ 
 tific course will inaugurate at once a one-year course 
 in simple carpentry for the ordinary native, enabling 
 him to return to his village and raise the standard of 
 living by providing for simple furniture, doors and 
 windows in his house, and by building a better house; 
 (2) Medical education, not for the training of physi¬ 
 cians, but for the teaching of simple medicine for the 
 common native diseases, the use of the microscope in 
 detecting ma’aria, sleeping-sickness and intestinal para¬ 
 sites, and the application of the principles of hygiene 
 and sanitation to village life; (3) Education in the 
 principles of “The Three R’s,” accompanied by hand¬ 
 craft, training for clerkships with the Government, 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 57 
 
 providing of an uplifting literature and broadening 
 his vision and sphere of usefulness. 
 
 8. Tell something of the day schools. 
 
 At every station there is a day school with a very 
 carefully worked out program and curriculum, and 
 under the superintendency of one of our missionaries. 
 Miss McKay at Luebo is at the head of the educational 
 work for that station; Mr. Gilliam is 'the Director of 
 Education for the entire Mission and is located at 
 Mutoto; while other stations are using the ladies of 
 the station with good effect. In the outstations every 
 evangelist is expected to conduct a school. In both the 
 station and outstation schools men, women, and chil¬ 
 dren attend and are taught to read, write, spell, work 
 arithmetic problems, recite Scripture portions, sing, 
 and learn other useful things. 
 
 9. Do the natives learn readily? 
 
 They have good memories and the younger natives 
 learn very readily. 
 
 10. What is a good illustration of their memories? 
 
 Large congregations sing imany of the over 140 
 hymns in the native hymnal from memory. Many of 
 them can repeat the entire Sermon on the Mount, the 
 third chapter of John, the 11th and 14th chapters of 
 John, the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, and many 
 other Scripture portions. Students in the Bible School 
 can give the entire outline of the Life of Christ with 
 the principal events in each division. 
 
 11. What of the native voices? 
 
 The natives sing very well, though probably not so 
 well as the negroes in America, and not always so 
 correctly. One of the greatest needs of the Mission 
 is for trained musicians to train them in music. 
 
 12. What may be said of the attitude of the natives toward 
 
 the gospel? 
 
 In former days, even up to the year 1920, the na¬ 
 tives were seemingly eager for the gospel. Native 
 delegations by the dozen were besieging the stations 
 at Luebo and Muicoto for evangelists. Hundreds were 
 baptized into the communion of the church until the 
 
58 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 entire roll registered as many as twenty thousand. 
 With the coming of the railways, motor-roads, devel¬ 
 opments at Tchikapa and elsewhere there is a very 
 noticeable change in the native attitude. More or less 
 indifference to the gospel has taken the place of the 
 former eagerness, hundreds have been disciplined and 
 their names removed for various causes from the 
 church roll, and not so many young men are offering 
 themselves for the gospel ministry or do not stick to 
 the course when they commence it. Altogether, our 
 (missionaries are much alarmed over the situation in 
 spite of the fact that they foresaw it years ago and 
 gave out a note of warning to the church. 
 
 13. Why and how does our Congo church discipline its mem¬ 
 
 bers '.? 
 
 For many years there has been a mass movement 
 into the Christian Church, this movement having re¬ 
 ceded only recently. It was the popular thing to be¬ 
 come a Christian, and many hundreds came into the 
 church with mixed motives, failing afterwards to stand 
 the test of temptations, especially the recent tempta¬ 
 tions of high wages in the centers of industrialism. 
 Careful itineration on the part of the missionaries 
 reveals a great number of these natives living in sin 
 or on the list of “non-residents.” Those who are found 
 to be living in open sin are removed from the church 
 roll, their names being read in public. Not wishing 
 to make any false appearances, too, our missionaries 
 have adopted the custom of not counting any “non¬ 
 resident” until his whereabouts and his conduct are 
 investigated. 
 
 After discipline, if a native wishes to restore his 
 name, he must make a public confession of his sin 
 and be received by reinstatement. 
 
 14. What steps have been recently taken in order to meet 
 
 the tide of commercialism and industrialism and the 
 seeming slump in our work? 
 
 First, greater stress is laid on the preparation of 
 candidates for baptism; secondly, better preparation 
 of our native evangelists, as already outlined; and 
 the movement known as the PROGRESSIVE PRO¬ 
 GRAM FOR THE CONGO MISSION has been 
 launched. 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 59 
 
 15. What has been done for the better preparation of candi¬ 
 
 dates for baptism? 
 
 Each candidate, as formerly, is enrolled in a cate¬ 
 chumen (inquirers) class and is required to attend 
 regularly for a period of at least four months, after 
 which he is examined on the catechism and if his ex¬ 
 amination is satisfactory he is passed to what may be 
 called the “Test Question Class,” as he learns here 
 as thoroughly as possible the principal doctrines of 
 Christianity (not Presbyterian doctrines in particu¬ 
 lar, but the main teachings of the Bible on Salvation, 
 Repentance, Faith and Works, etc.). In the mean¬ 
 time he must learn to read the Bible, must be a regu¬ 
 lar contributor to the church, must lead an exemplary 
 life and must be able to show at least one other person 
 that he has led to accept the gospel. After a course 
 of from six months to two years, depending on the 
 earnestness of the candidate, he may be baptized. 
 
 16. What of the PROGRESSIVE PROGRAM? 
 
 This movement was launched by the Mission in 1922, 
 having for its objectives the raising of 180,000 francs 
 within three years for the support of the native church, 
 besides nearly all the objectives of the similar or 
 analogous program in the home church, from which 
 the idea grew. 
 
 17. What might be said of the success of the first year? 
 
 It was quite up to expectations on (most of the ob¬ 
 jectives. Family altars were erected in homes where 
 there were none before, contributions of the natives 
 alone were more than double the joint contributions 
 of missionaries and natives of the year previous, 
 tracts were written and distributed, and a revival 
 was inaugurated at Mutoto. 
 
 18. What further can be said of the natives' attitude toward 
 
 self-support? 
 
 This feature is quite encouraging. In 1921 the na¬ 
 tives and missionaries jointly gave twenty-one thou¬ 
 sand francs. The contributions of the missionaries 
 were afterwards separated completely from those of 
 the natives in order to make proper comparisons, and 
 the natives gave during 1923 the sum of 57,961 francs. 
 This is four thousand francs more than double the 
 
60 
 
 IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 joint offerings of natives and missionaries for the year 
 previous. 
 
 19. Should our church, then, be discouraged at the apparent 
 
 falling off of interest and indifference on the part 
 
 of the natives? 
 
 No more so than our pastors at home should feel 
 called upon to relinquish their efforts because of the 
 widespread indifference to the gospel, the encroach¬ 
 ments of “modernism,” the indifference to immorality 
 and laxness in the observance of the Seventh Com¬ 
 mandment as well as the Fourth, and ithe money-mad¬ 
 ness that seems to have become a part of our national 
 life in America. By comparison, there are more en¬ 
 couraging features in the work of Christianizing the 
 Congo than there are in Christianizing the centers of 
 religious propaganda in Europe and America; we must 
 redouble our efforts in Congo at this time, especially, 
 before it is too late. 
 
 20. What unanswerable argument is presented at this time 
 
 for missions to Africa and the Congo? 
 
 If we must use the native in increasing our own 
 wealth, if we must export his products and import all 
 the European vices that it is possible to import, should 
 we not also import the gospel to counteract the evils 
 and counterbalance what we take away from him? 
 
 21. What can we do first? 
 
 We can pray to the God of the Harvest to thrust 
 out more laborers into his harvest, we can pray that 
 he may use us, if not on the field itself, certainly in 
 any other way possible. 
 
 22. Can we do more than pray? 
 
 Importunate prayer will lead us to see what can be 
 done, will lead us to give of our substance toward 
 sending men and women now waiting and ready to 
 go, and imay, as it did in the case of those who were 
 first commanded to pray thus, to go in person. “We 
 can do no more than pray until we have prayed, but 
 we can more than pray when we have prayed.” 
 
 23. What prayer and blessing has Livingstone left as the 
 
 heritage of all who take any part in the work of 
 
 redeeming Africa’s darkened millions? 
 
 “May God’s richest blessings come down upon him, 
 be he American or Englishman or Turk, who will 
 help to heal this open sore of the world.” 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE CONGO 
 
 61 
 
 Sources of Information and Books of Reference. 
 
 Religions of the World .Grant 
 
 History of Christian Missions .Robinson 
 
 Personal Life of David Livingstone .Blaikie 
 
 Daybreak in the Dark Continent.Naylor 
 
 Life of Samuel N. Lapsley .J. W. Lapsley 
 
 Light in the Dark Continent .Harris 
 
 Red Rubber .E. D. Morel 
 
 Great Britain and the Congo.E. D. Morel 
 
 Congo Free State .Stanley 
 
 The Lure of Africa .Patton 
 
 An African Trail .Mackenzie 
 
 African Adventurers .Mackenzie 
 
 The Land of the Kasai and Its People.Hilton-Simpson 
 
 Triumphs of the Gospel in the Belgian Congo ....Bedinger 
 
 Life of William McCutchen Morrison .Vinson 
 
 Congo Conference Reports. .Obtainable on our Congo Mission