Pam 
 
 Africa 
 
 
 Historical Sketch 
 
 of tt»e 
 
 MISSIONS 
 
 in 
 
 AFRICA 
 
 • • • • 
 
 under tiae care of tlie 
 
 BOARD OK KORBIGN MISSIONS OK TTHE 
 RRESBYTTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 F'OUR'TH EDITION 
 
 (Revised) 
 
 
 WOMAN’S FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 Witherspoon Building, Philadelphia 
 
 1897 
 
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AFRICA. 
 
 Gaboon and Corisco Mission. 
 
 Physical 
 
 Aspects 
 
 I 
 
 This mission occupies the Island of Corisco, and the shore 
 of the Gulf of Guinea, from the equator to near Kamerun 
 Bay, 4° north latitude. It also extends east into the interior 
 about 150 miles behind the coast belt at Batanga. 
 
 The coast line is low, rising towards and 
 below the equator. The navigation of the 
 shore is dangerous, with reefs and isolated 
 rocks; and the mouths of the numerous rivers are obstructed 
 by sand-bars. Close to the hard, yellowish sand beach is a 
 dense growth of bushes, flowering vines and low trees, 
 above which tower the gracefully-rounded heads of the coco, 
 oil, bamboo and other palms. This narrow strip of jungle 
 follows the shore line. Behind it is a belt of sandy swamps, 
 covered with tufts of coarse grass, which gives pasture to 
 herds of oxen, antelopes and other wild animals. Back of 
 this, at an average distance of a mile from the sea, the land 
 slowly rises and bears a heavy growth of timber, extending 
 .inland 20030(^miles. In this forest are found elephants, 
 oxen, pigs, antelopes, gazelles, monkeys, chimpanzees, 
 gorillas and other animals; and the numerous rivers swarm 
 with hippopotami. The Benita, Muni, Gaboon and Ogowe 
 drain the country, and are fed by many small affluents. A 
 chain of mountains, the Sierra del Crystal, runs southeast 
 from Batanga, where it juts into the sea, until it strikes the 
 Congo far inland, making the “ Yellala Falls” of Capt. 
 Tuckey. 
 
 The natives roam through the forests, hunt- 
 The People ing ivory and gathering ebony, dye-woods, 
 palm-oil, and gums, copal and caoutchouc. 
 But they build their villages only on the banks of streams 
 for convenience of their canoes and boats, the water courses 
 being their only highways. Their farms of plantains, cassava, 
 maize, sugar-cane, etc., are made in forest clearings. Their 
 
4 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 
 
 features and color are those of the typical negro; but in the 
 features there is great variety, some tribes being much more 
 delicately fashioned than others, even to a degree of beauty; 
 and among the tribes farther from the coast the shades of 
 color become less dark. In the more open country of the 
 far interior are large, populous towns. The tribes are very 
 numerous and exceedingly clannish. Kach possesses its 
 own dialect belonging to the great Bantu family of languages, 
 which covers the entire equatorial portion of Africa between 
 the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and from 3° north 
 latitude as far south as Znlu-land. 
 
 The government of the region included in 
 Government our mission field is nominally under foreign 
 powers ; Germany at the northern end, and 
 France on the equator. Benito and the region around, and 
 also' the island of Corisco are claimed by both France and 
 Spain, the latter, however, being in possession at present. 
 The natives originally lived under a patriarchal form of 
 government, no tribe being governed by any one ruler, but 
 each village directed by a local “chief” or “headman,” 
 mistakenly called “king,” whose position was due only to 
 his being senior member of the family, and who had authority 
 only so far as his age or force of character could command 
 respect. This form of government still holds in the interior, 
 even where France and Germany claim authority, but near 
 the coast it is more form than substance, the foreign govern¬ 
 ments insisting on a measure of compliance with their 
 methods of colonial control. 
 
 ( i) There are no 
 paths are trodden 
 emigrating from 
 another. The beach on the coast can be traversed by horse 
 or donkey or hammock-bearer. But almost all the travel 
 and trade are done in native canoes and boats dug from a 
 single tree-trunk, and by small foreign sloops, schooners and 
 steam launches. Our missionary travel had always been by 
 small, open boats, dangerously traversing by sail the ocean 
 for distances of a hundred miles or more, and by oar the 
 inland rivers, until in 1871 was purchased for the mission a 
 handsome rapid-sailing, sloop-rigged yacht, the “Fife,” 
 which was most comfortable and serviceable for two years, 
 when, by an unwise economy in dispensing with a responsible 
 captain, it was lost on Corisco rocks. It was replaced by 
 the “Hudson,” a small schooner of twelve tons, which. 
 
 Distinctive 
 
 Features 
 
 roads .—The narrow forest 
 single-file in hunting or in 
 the bank of one river to 
 
 
THE MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 5 
 
 though safe and useful, was, by her painful slowness, a dis¬ 
 comfort, and required constant repairs because of the faulty 
 materials of which she was built. In 1885, the “Nassau,” 
 a small sloop, was built in Liverpool, mainly bj^ funds raised 
 among children in Sunday-schools and Mission Bands in 
 America, and is used along the coast in the service of the 
 mission. Because of the increase of steamer traffic along 
 the coast and the greater rapidity and comfort of travel in 
 this way, it is probable that the service of the Nassau may 
 be discontinued. The interior stations are reached by walk¬ 
 ing through the Bush. Hammocks borne on men’s shoulders 
 are used when necessary, as in cases of illness or in trans¬ 
 porting ladies. 
 
 ( 2) There is no currency .—All payments are made in barter 
 of beads, knives, fish-hooks, plates, calico prints, etc., etc 
 With these we buy materials for building houses, pay boat¬ 
 men or other employes, and buy food for ourselves and 
 school-children. The transportation of loads of these goods 
 by boat or on the backs of porters, as described by Stanley, 
 Du Chaillu and other African travelers, is a great hindrance 
 to rapid progress. 
 
 (3) There zvas no zxjritten language of the dialects in our 
 mission field until the Mpongwe was reduced in 1843 by 
 Rev. Messrs. J. L Wilson and William Walker. Other 
 dialects have since been written; the Benga by Rev. J. L- 
 Mackey, the Dikele by Rev. Messrs. Best and Preston, the 
 Fang by the Rev. H. M. Adams and the Rev A. W. Marling, 
 
 ^-aud— th 'CT BttR - b}' lliC~R g^;-'A. The struc¬ 
 
 tural differences between these are slight; the dissimilarity 
 being mostly in vocabulary. They are easy of acquisition 
 by foreigners. Scores of other dialects exist, e. g., the 
 ^ Kombe, Mbiko, Orungu, Nkami, etc., for writing which no 
 necessity arises, the Benga, Mpongwe^ I^ang and-~Bu 4 e 
 answering all ■present wants. * 
 
 The entire New Testament and parts of the Old, with 
 Hymn-book, Catechism, “Peep of Day,” “ Come to Jesus, ” 
 and other small books, are printed in both Benga and 
 Mpongwe, and a Primer and the Gospels in Buie. 
 
 French is required by the government to be taught in our 
 schools within French territory, and if a foreign language is 
 taught within German territory it must be the Geimau. In 
 both, however, instruction is given largely in the vernacular 
 as the main dependence in imparting spiritual truth. 
 
 (4) Thez'e is no zvorship in the proper sense of that word. 
 
6 
 
 HISTORICAI, SKETCH OF 
 
 The natives have a religion, but it is a superstition called 
 Fetishism. It does not come as near to a worship of God as 
 idolatry does, for the idolater professes to worship God 
 through the symbol of the idol, but the African negro, though 
 distinctly admitting the existence of a supreme being as a 
 creator and father,” gives him no actual worship. Sacri¬ 
 fices are made of food, and occasionally of blood—sometimes 
 human—to spirits, to which prayers are regularly offered at 
 the new moons, by the village patriarch or his deputies, and 
 at other times by any individual in sudden danger. But 
 these prayers have no confession of sin, no thanks, no praise. 
 Fetishism consists in the wearing of charms or amulets to aid 
 in the accomplishment of any given wish, or to ward off the 
 machinations of a possible enemy. These charms may liter¬ 
 ally be anything —a shell, a bone, even a rag that has been 
 consecrated by the fetish doctor, who professes, with his 
 drugs and incantations, to inject into it a spirit, by whose 
 efficiency the sick are to be healed, and the hunter, trader, 
 warrior, gardener, etc., etc., made successful. Rules are also 
 to be obeyed of abstaining from certain kinds of food, refrain¬ 
 ing from contact with certain articles, avoiding certain 
 localities, etc These rules, and the dread of malignant 
 spiritual influences, whose power is thus to be placated, make 
 the religion of the native negro a bondage of fear. 
 
 „ , . Work among the natives is pleasant and hope- 
 
 Characteristics because of—(i) Their receptivity .—In our 
 itinerations and village preaching they are 
 attracted by the singing of hymns, listen with curiosity, 
 and give a prompt assent to the truth and excellence of the 
 gospel message, not often disputing, though objecting to the 
 practical application of the decalogue to their lives and cus¬ 
 toms. We are not deceived by this ready assent. It does 
 not arise from a welcome of the Saviour, whose name and 
 gospel is utterly new to them, but from an absence of any 
 regular system of theology. Having no such system for 
 which to fight, they accept our statements out of a race- 
 reverence and personal respect and courtesy. But even this 
 gives us an opportunity of giving instruction which prepares 
 the way for the truth to enter in. 
 
 (2) Their hospitality .—Though not cordial to strangers, 
 they are warm in their welcome of members m tribes or 
 families with whom they have marriage or commercial rela¬ 
 tions. And they are particularly polite in their reception of 
 all foreign visitors, such as traders and missionaries. When 
 
THE MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 7 
 
 we acknowledge the claims for recognition of the village 
 i'hiefs, and formally make ourselves their guests, we are at 
 once accorded the freedom of the town, to go where and do 
 as we please in its huts and around its fires; food is provided, 
 the best hut cleared for our use, and our persons, boat, goods 
 and crew are perfectly safe. This hospitality and honesty 
 are, indeed, but a thin covering to a wild nature; for, if we 
 independently encamp in a forest near a village, we may be 
 robbed, and then there is no redress. But even such hospi¬ 
 tality renders us safe; and the slight gifts expected to be made 
 in parting are no more than would be given in payment for 
 food and lodging in a civilized country. 
 
 (3) Their kindness .—Each missionary on arrival is ad¬ 
 dressed with the title of ‘ ‘ father ” or “ mother; ’ ’ and the 
 pleasant feelings that soon grow up between teacher and pupil 
 or employer and employes become strong and often tender. 
 We are not called by opprobrious names, nor looked upon 
 with suspicion or coldness. This is, in general, true; but, 
 in connection with the new stations along the Ogowe, the 
 missionaries have had more trouble with the fierce and w^ar- 
 like Fang tribe, who are disposed to encroach upon mission 
 rights. Courage and prudence on the part of the occupants 
 have so far, however, compelled respect. 
 
 (4) Their docility .—They are obedient, as children or ser¬ 
 vants. We are accorded large authority, much the same as 
 native chiefs have in their villages. Indeed, that was the 
 position that was formally voted in the council of Corisco 
 chiefs to Mr. Mackey and his successors on his location on 
 that island. The same is more or less true in other parts of 
 our field, according as the missionary’s own character is 
 personally an impressive one. On his own premises he is 
 sometimes as father to children, teacher to pupils, master 
 to employes, judge to transgressors and magistrate to 
 offenders. 
 
 Unfavorable ^ ^ Want of ejfective government sometimes 
 Features interferes with comfort at our stations. Un¬ 
 kind feelings, engendered by jealousy or slan¬ 
 der or misunderstanding, lead to petty outrages, which, 
 if submitted to, open the way to greater and more audacious 
 acts, for which no immediate redress can be obtained. 
 Rightly to deal with such cases calls for patience, prudence, 
 decision and tact. 
 
 {2) Indolence is natural to the people. Their wants, being 
 few in food or clothing, are easily supplied from the rivers. 
 
8 
 
 historical sketch of 
 
 their women’s farms, and from the forest. They have no 
 trades, and but very limited arts of rude house and boat" 
 building, carpentering and blacksmithing. When they pro¬ 
 fess Christianity their change of heart does not at once and 
 entirely make them diligent where there is small occasion 
 for diligence; and the native Christian, left to himself, lives 
 like his heathen fellows, excepting their vices. It is neces¬ 
 sary, therefore, to teach them industries, and stimulate 
 ambition. Unlike some tribes of southern Africa, they are 
 willing to change their rude tools and utensils, readily accept 
 ours, and are glad to be taught carpentering. This is a field 
 in which lay missionaries, e.g., mechanics, are especially 
 useful. 
 
 (3) Slavery probably existed in Africa as a punishment 
 for crime long before it was stimulated to the seizure of weaker 
 neighbors and tribes, to supply a foreign market. The 
 united influence of the many missionary societies that line 
 the coast, and the efforts of one Christian nation after another, 
 have broken up the trade in Guinea negroes. There is now 
 not a single slave exported from the west coast of Africa, 
 although it is still done clandestinely on the east coast. And 
 while suppressed on the west coast, it exists unrestrained 
 as a domestic institution, the criminal class being passed 
 ‘ ‘ down river ’ ’ from the interior to the coast. Their presence 
 as the labor-class makes labor to the native eye dista.steful 
 and dishonorable, giving to the native Christian a plea for 
 and temptation to idleness. 
 
 (4) Intemperance is a sad obstacle. The natives have their 
 own beer, made from over-ripe plantains and bananas, and a 
 sour wine from the sap of the oil and bamboo palms. But 
 they have learned to like the more intoxicating qualities of 
 our imported rum, gin and whiskey. These are obtained in 
 abundance at almost all the English, Scotch, German, and 
 other foreign trading-houses and dram-shops at the depots of 
 the steamers and other vessels of commerce on the coast and 
 up the rivers. Were it not for the use of foreign liquors in 
 a trade otherwise legitimate and commendable, the concur¬ 
 rent testimony of our own and adjacent missions is that our 
 
 ^ native church membership would be vastly greater. What 
 a record against the Protestant Christianity of Great Britain 
 and Germany and America! 
 
 (5) Polygamy, with its kindred vices, is a bitter root, 
 which develops into a tree whose thorny arms meet us at every 
 path. It debases woman, disregards marriage, destroys the 
 
THE MISSIONS IN AFRICA, 
 
 9 
 
 family, and interferes with our control of female pupils. It 
 makes marriage difficult for Christian young men who desire 
 to be monogamists; and, inwrought into the customs of 
 society in many unmentionable forms, follows our native 
 members to the door and even into the church. The debase¬ 
 ment which it has wrought in the minds of the natives has 
 sapped virtue and chastity. It is a sad fact that many white 
 men, representatives of civilization, trading on the coast, by 
 adopting polygamy and encouraging kindred vices, while 
 they deprive lust of none of its evils, give it a dignity that 
 even heathenism did not claim for it. 
 
 MISSION STATIONS. 
 
 
 / 
 
 2^3 
 
 > 
 
 (i) The Gaboon district was occupied June 
 Baraka 2 2d, 1842, by the American Board of Com- 
 
 missioners for Foreign • Missions at Baraka 
 station, wem Libreville, on the Gaboon, an estuary or inlet 
 of the ocean, miles from its mouth, and ■fifteenrmiles 
 north of the equator. This was really a transfer of a mis¬ 
 sion which had been begun eight years before at Cape 
 Palmas. The founders of the Gaboon Mission were Rev. * 
 J. L. Wilson^ ■*^ev. Benjamin Griswold, Rev. Albert 
 ,Bushnell, and Rev. William Walker, accompanied by their 
 wives. Mr. Walker, the last survivor of the original band, 
 passed away Dec. 9, 1896. He went first to Cape Palmas, / 
 Liberia, but was transferred to Gaboon in'rST^^ For thirty 
 years after he was most of the time in Africa, and the cor¬ 
 ner-stone of the church, of the Mpongwe literature, and the 
 civilization within Gaboon Mission was chiefly laid b y his 
 hands, and by his associate. Rev. Albert Bushnell. ^TTther 
 names identified with the mission are White, Porter, Pres¬ 
 ton, Best, Ford, Pierce, Herrick, Adams, Jack, St. John, 
 Reading, Marling, Murphy, and a few others of short 
 residence. 
 
 Mr. Griswold’s name is connected with a second station, 
 Ozyunga, two miles distant from Baraka, which was finally 
 abandoned ; Rev. Ira M. Preston’s name with a third station, 
 Olendebenk, twenty-five miles up the estuary from Baraka," 
 which also, because of tribal wars and other causes, was 
 abandoned : the names of Revs. E. J. Pierce, H. P. Her¬ 
 rick and H. M. Adams, with Nengenenge, sixty miles up 
 the estuary. This station, after being forsaken for twenty 
 years because of its unhealthfulness, was resumed in 1881, 
 
 
 
lO 
 
 historical sketch of 
 
 but it was destroyed by a F'reiich gunboat not long after, 
 and a new station was opened at Angoni, ten miles beyond. 
 
 In 1843 intrigues were begun which, in 1844, resulted in 
 the possession of that part of the coast by France, and the 
 erection of a colonial government, with headquarters at 
 Gaboon. Successes in mission work and native conver¬ 
 sions in 1849 aroused heathen opposition and actual perse¬ 
 cution of native Christians. 
 
 Rev. Messrs. Preston and Best prepared a grammar and 
 part of the Gospels in the Dikele dialect. Henry A. Ford, 
 M.U., was a skilful physician, and wrote a monograph on 
 African fevers, which is a standard for reference on that 
 subject. The names of Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Preston and 
 Mrs. Bushnell are especially connected with the Baraka 
 girls’ school. Scanty reinforcements and frequent returns 
 of those disabled by illness left Gaboon in 1870 with only 
 one station, Baraka. In April, 1871, this station was trans¬ 
 ferred to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, and 
 the work was united with that at Corisco, under the name 
 of the ‘ ‘ Gaboon and Corisco Mission ’ ’ Reinforcements 
 were sent to Baraka, and it was for some time the central 
 station of the mission. Tying on the Gaboon River, ten 
 miles from the sea, it is a depot for steamers, and has all 
 the advantages as well as the drawbacks of a port of entry. 
 Rev. W. C. Gault and Mrs. Gault labored here for some 
 years, and after their transfer to Batanga Rev. Dr. Nassau, 
 Mr. E. A. Ford, Mrs. T. S. Ogden, and Mr. E. Presset, a 
 French teacher, carried on much evangelistic and educa¬ 
 tional work, extending the influence of the mission for 
 many miles around. There is a church with 70 members, 
 now under the oversight of the Rev. Dr. Nassau, the patri¬ 
 arch of the African mission. Schools were at first taught 
 in the Mpongwe tongue, but after the French began to 
 enforce their claim to this region in 1878, their requirement 
 that all instruction should be given in French necessitated 
 the employment of teachers who could use that language. 
 Then began brighter days. Baraka has since been strength¬ 
 ened in the number of workers ; its work has grown, the 
 church has increased. 
 
 ^ The distinctive importance of Gaboon parish is geograph¬ 
 ical and financial. "Ba»tkn the depot of steamers ; 
 
 our supplies were kept there ; it was oun post-office, and, 
 being central, most of our mission and Pre^ytery meetings 
 were held there. 
 
THE MIS^U»NS IN AFRICA. II 
 
 Since 1893, these^ave been transferred to Batanga,which 
 is the centre at present. The schools formerly carried on in 
 the Mpongwe dialect were closed because of the restrictions 
 of the French Government, which requires all instruction to 
 be given in the French language. Within the past few 
 years, however, schools have been conducted by French 
 teachers connected with our mission, secured through the 
 kindness of the Societe des Missio 7 is Evangeliques of Paris. 
 
 (2) The Corisco district was occupied as a 
 Corisco distinct mission by the Presbyterian Board 
 
 in 1850. Corisco is a beautiful island, five 
 miles long and three wide, sixty miles north of the equator, 
 and fifteen to twenty miles from the mainland on Corisco 
 bay. The dialect is the Benga. Among the workers here 
 were Rev. J. L,. and Mrs. Mackey, Rev. C. and Mrs. De 
 Heer, and Rev. Ibia JTkenge, whose lives cover the thirty- 
 one years from 1850 to 1881. Associated with them are the 
 names of Simpson, Clemens, McQueen, Williams, Ogden, 
 Loomis, Clark, Nassau, Pauli, Reutlinger, Menaul, Gilles¬ 
 pie, and others of shorter residence. 
 
 Messrs. Mackey and Simpson were the founders of the 
 first Corisco station at Evangasimba, where the former left 
 his impress upon the natives as a man of sterling integrity, 
 good judgment and tact. A second station, Ugobi, two 
 miles south of Evangasimba, was soon opened, where Rev. 
 G. and Mrs. Georgiana (Bliss) McQueen are remembered as 
 careful trainers and educators, their pupils being noted as 
 excellent interpreters and English speakers. A third sta 
 tion, Elongo, three miles north of Evangasimba, was estab¬ 
 lished, where Rev. William and Mrs. Clemens were known 
 for their labor for pupils from the mainland, whither Mr. C. 
 made numerous and long boat-journeys. A fourth station, 
 Maluku, was located near Evangasimba, and here lived the 
 careful translator and conscientious pastor. Rev. T. S. 
 Ogden. To the care of himself and Mrs. Ogden was trans¬ 
 ferred Mrs. Mackey’s flourishing girls’ school, which after¬ 
 wards passed successively into the hands of Mrs. Maria 
 (Jackson) Clark and Mrs. Mary (Latta) Nassau. This 
 school was finally placed at Elongo, under the care of Rev. 
 C and Mrs. De Heer and Mrs Reutlinger, on the occasion 
 of the removal of the work at Maluku (and eventually that 
 of Evangasimba) to the mainland at the Benito river. Ugobi 
 had previously been consolidated with Elongo, the four 
 Corisco stations being thus reduced to one. 
 
12 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 
 
 Corisco had been selected as a mission basis under two 
 beliefs—(i) that its insular position would assure exemption 
 from fever : (2) that missionary effort should be spent in 
 carefully educating natives, who would then undertake the 
 danger and exposure of carrying the gospel to the distant 
 regions. Neither of these was realized. The island was 
 found to be quite as feverish as the mainland ; the confine¬ 
 ment of teaching was less healthful than the exercise of 
 travel; and the chronic tribal quarrels made it impossible for 
 our native agents to go any great distance from their own 
 tribe. It was found that missionaries could travel with 
 advantage to their own health and with more safety from the 
 hands of rude distant tribes than the native Christians 
 could. It was therefore not discouragement or weakness 
 3 that reduced the lo^ Corisco stations to the present single 
 
 at Elongo. _ 
 
 The distinctive importance of Corisco is as a field for 
 encouraging native self-support and self reliance, the entire 
 care of the district, church, school, etc., being placed in 
 the hands of the native ordained minister. Rev. Mr. Ibia 
 JTkenge, the first convert baptized on the island. The 
 church has a membership of 125, with several out-stations. 
 In 1896 two congregations built chapels for themselves, and 
 the pastor is encouraged by the gradual spread of Christian 
 ideas, and the manifest elevation of the moral tone of the 
 island, through the education of the girls and women. 
 
 The Presbytery of Corisco, formed in i860, now super¬ 
 vises all the churches embraced in our Mission field. It is 
 attached to the Synod of New Jersey. 
 
 As long ago as 1858 a visit was made to Corisco by a 
 Spanish war vessel bearing a proclamation from the govern¬ 
 or of Fernando Po, to the effect that only the Roman 
 Catholic religion should be taught on the island. The only 
 notice taken of this was a memorial to the United States 
 Government, which led to an examination of the claim 
 made, and the discovery that it was without foundation. 
 
 This seemed at the time to end the matter, as the newly 
 imported priests and nuns left the island at once. In 1885, 
 however, the claim of Spain was revived, in antagonism to 
 that of France. Roman priests were again sent to Corisco 
 and the attempt to prohibit all Protestant teaching, in any 
 language, was renewed. The question has been referred to 
 the State Department of Washington. 
 
 These rival powers have greatly hampered the work of 
 
THE MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 13 
 
 the Presbyterian Board in this region, but the Word of 
 God, translated into the Mpongwe and Benga dialects, is a 
 voice which cannot be altogether stifled by any strife of men. 
 
 (3) Angom^ on the river Gem©-, the north- 
 Angom ern branch of the Gaboon, was occupied in 
 
 1881. It affords a vast and promising held 
 for missionary labor, being a central point among the large 
 and vigorous Fang tribe. Forty-three villages can be 
 reached by land within a few hours. Rev. A. W, and Mrs. 
 Marling labored earnestlj^ here for many years, with the 
 assistance of Mrs. T. S. Ogden, who in the absence or ill¬ 
 ness of Mr. Marling, was at times the only missionary at 
 the station. In 1892 Rev. Mr. and Mrs Bannerman were 
 transferred here from Talaguga, but spent only a short time 
 at the station when a protracted absence l)ecame necessary 
 because of ill-health. A church was organized in 1894, 
 which now numbers thirty-seven members. Mr. Marling 
 translated Genesis and Matthew into the Fang language, 
 and prepared a “ First Reading Book” and Catechism, with 
 ten hymns attached. He died of African fever in 1896, 
 greatl}'^ lamented by the mission, the native Christians and 
 the Church in the home-land. 
 
 „ , (4) The Ogoive district was occupied by Rev. 
 
 R H. Nassau in 1874, at Belambila, on the 
 
 ^ ^ Ogowe river, 150 miles up its course. A 
 house was built here among the friendly Bakele, but the 
 jealousy of other tribes made it unsafe to remain. In 1876 
 the station was removed twent}’^ miles down the river to 
 Kangwe Hill, among the Galwa, in the neighborhood of 
 the Government Post at Rembarene. Here Dr. Nassau was 
 joined by his sister, Miss Isabella A. Nassau, the first white 
 woman to enter the Ogowe. This location was chosen in 
 the consistent pursuance of what has been ever the objec¬ 
 tive point of the mission, the interior. The failure to find 
 a path via either the Gaboon, the Muni (at Corisco), or the 
 Benito, led to the attempt of the Ogowe, whose entrance 
 had recently been forced by trading steamers. This 
 attempt was stimulated by the very general feeling in the 
 home churches that our duty was unfulfilled unless an im¬ 
 mediate advance was made interior ward. 
 
 In 1876 Count Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, a lieutenant 
 in the French navy, accompanied by MM. Marche and Bal- 
 lay, carefully explored and surveyed the Ogowe to its sources. 
 Near those sources he found iii 1878 other streams, flowing 
 
 
 
 
 
14 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 
 
 south and east. On a second journey he descended one of 
 those streams, the Alima, and found that it flows into the 
 Congo, near Stanley Pool, thus proving a practicable route 
 for our advance. 
 
 The original plan was to form a chain of stations from 
 Kangwe to the Congo basin, if it were found practicable. 
 
 A second station, Talaguga, -terr miles up the river, among • 
 
 
 the Fang tribe, was occupied in 1882 by Dr. Nassau and Mrs. 
 Mary (Foster) Nassau, whose lamented death in 1884 led to 
 the transfer of Miss I. A. Nassau from Kangwe to that 
 station. From this outpost, itineration by boat was car¬ 
 ried on in both directions with many tokens of divine 
 blessing. 
 
 I n 1885 Rev. A . C. Good took up the work at Kangwe 
 ^’’""‘'’^and trough his^itinerating efforts along the river and 
 around the lakes connecting with the Ogowe, there was a 
 precious work of grace, resulting in the organization of two 
 churches in 1889, one at Wambalia, tw^tit5i. miles below 
 K'angvve, and the other at Igenja, fifty miles below. Early 
 in 1892, a third church was formed at Longwe, and a new 
 out-station was also established at Enyonga, eighty miles 
 below Kflngwe, among the Nk^mi people, a branch of the 
 Mpongwe tribe. 
 
 A church was also organized at Olamba, and the whole 
 number of communicants had increased to over 300. Dr. 
 Good revised the entire New Testament in Mpongwe, and 
 prepared a new hymn-book. 
 
 This promising advance was interrupted by the interfer¬ 
 ence of the French government, which forbade instruction 
 in the vernacular, and laid such hampering restrictions on 
 the missionaries that the Board at the earnest request of the 
 Mission, resolved to commit the w^ork in that region as soon 
 as possible into the hands of French Protestants, and with- 
 
 
 draw by degrees from French territory. In accordance with 
 
 ^ / 
 y 
 
 y. 
 
 
 / 
 
 this policy, Talaguga was transferred in 1892 and Kangwe 
 in 1893 to the Societe des Missions Eva 7 igdiques of Paris. 
 
 This Society finding itself unable to assume further respon¬ 
 sibility in this direction, the Board is constrained to retain 
 Baraka and Angom. 
 
 (5) The Benito district was occupied in Janu- 
 Benito ary, 1865, at Mbade, at the mouth of the 
 
 Benito River, no miles north of the equator. 
 
 The dialect is the Kombe, but the Benga is^inderstood. 
 
 Prominent names in the work here are Rev. George PaulR [f 
 
THE MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 15 
 
 Rev. R. H. Nassau and Mrs. Nassau, Rev. S. H. Murphy 
 and Mrs. Murphy, Miss Isabella A. Nassau, and Rev. C. 
 DeHeer and Mrs. De Heer, whose lives cover the twenty 
 years from 1865 to 1885. Associated with them are the 
 names of Reutlinger, Kops, Schorsch, Menkel, Gault and 
 Misses Jones and Dewsnap. Rev. George Pauli, the founder 
 of Mbade station, was a man of noble character, with a rare 
 combination of strength and amiability, of untiring labor 
 and deep spirituality. His 7eal consumed him. He lived 
 in Africa but thirteen months, only three of which were 
 spent in Benito. His work was carried on and enlarged by 
 his immediate successors, Rev. Messrs. Nassau and Murphy. 
 Mrs. Mary C. Nassau, with a spirit like that of George 
 Pauli, left a deep impress on the hearts of the heathen, and 
 her hymn-book is ever on the lips of the native church. 
 Mr. Murphy’s energy called out the self-reliance of the 
 native Christians. With his aid they broke the power of 
 Ukuku Society, a most oppressive superstition, that held no 
 native life of worth against its arbitrary orders, and that 
 subjected even the lives of foreigners to frequent annoyance 
 and actual danger. In 1869 a second station was built at 
 Bolondo, two miles from Mbade, in the mouth of the river. 
 In that year also Mr. Reutlinger made an attempt to pene¬ 
 trate the interior by way of the Benito River, and had partly 
 overcome the opposition of the coast jealousy, when he 
 died from an attack of erysipelas. 
 
 Rev. J. De B. Kops, during his short stay in 1872, made 
 a favorable impression as a tliorough teacher and trainer of 
 the advanced class of the Bolondo boys’ school. After his 
 return to America that school-station, and, indeed, much of 
 the entire Benito work, ecclesiastical, educational and finan¬ 
 cial, was carried on for several years by Miss I. A. Nassau, 
 aided successively by Mr. Menkel, Miss Jones, Miss Dewsnap 
 and a native minister. 
 
 Mr. P. Menkel, the captain of the mission vessel, has 
 also made himself useful as a mechanic in erecting mission- 
 houses and churches. 
 
 The church, numbering over 200 members, with a large 
 Sunday-school, is under the charge of a native pastor. This 
 church has sent off two colonies, and there are ten out- 
 stations. Mrs. De Heer, Mrs. Reutlinger and Miss Hulda 
 Christensen were the only missionaries permanently stationed 
 here for several years until the appointment of Mr. Hick¬ 
 man in 189/. Mrs. De Heer has prepared a Benga-English 
 
i6 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 
 
 and English-Benga dictionary, and revised and translated 
 other books, such as ‘ ‘ Presbyterian Paw, ” “ Bible History, ’ ’ 
 and “Jessiea’s P'irst Prayer.” 
 
 The importance of Benito as a station lies in the industry 
 of its people and the missionary character of the native 
 church. The fervor of George Pauli flows on in the life of 
 the Benito church; its members carry on several out-mission 
 posts in their own district; have furnished from their num¬ 
 ber efficient elders for the Corisco and Gaboon churches; 
 volunteered the first native assistants for the advance up the 
 Ogowe, and from this church came most of the licentiates 
 of our presbytery. 
 
 Batafiga, at first an out station of Benito, was 
 Batanga made a regular station in 1889, under charge 
 
 of Rev. B. B. Brier and Mrs. Brier. Mr. Brier 
 died in 1890 after a brief but self-denying servdce and Mrs. 
 Brier returned to the United States. Rev. G. A. Godduhn 
 and Mrs. Godduhn, and the Rev. John McMillan, M.D., 
 and Mrs. McMillan, reached Africa in 1890, and were 
 assigned to Batanga. Dr. and Mrs. McMillan severed their 
 connection with the Mission in June 1892. After four years 
 of patient and effective service, Mr. Godduhn’s health 
 having failed, he and his devoted wife felt constrained to 
 withdraw from the field and return to the United States. 
 
 When it was found that there was no hope of advancing 
 inland by way of the Ogowe, and that the work on the river 
 was seriously hampered, as intimated above, the main centre 
 of our mission operations was transferred to Batanga, which 
 lies within German territory, and gives better access to the 
 interior. The territor}" of the Station extends from the 
 Carnpo River, the German boundary on the south, to Tittle 
 Batanga, giving a coast line of about 80 miles, and extend¬ 
 ing indefinitely into the interior. 
 
 The Rev. W. C. Gault and Mrs. Gault, Mr. E. A. Ford, 
 Miss I. A. Nassau, Miss Louise Babe, and Dr. and Mrs. 
 A. C. Good, joined the station in 1892, Dr. Good intend¬ 
 ing to work in the interior. A year later, Charles J. Laffin, 
 M. D., and Mrs. Laffin, w'ere added, and in 1894 Rev. 
 Herman Schnatz, Mr. Oscar Roberts and Mrs. Roberts. In 
 1895 Miss Ida Engles, under engagement of marriage to 
 Mr. Schnatz, arrived, and became Mrs. Schnatz. 
 
 There is a constant and encouraging growth in the 
 church at Batanga, and the truth is spreading in the sur¬ 
 rounding country. Churches have been formed at Ubenji, 
 
17 
 
 THE MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 ! 
 
 Kribi, EvujZie, Myum^, - an-d-fe t&a.. Along the coast several 
 tribes have built “prayer-houses” of their own accord, 
 especially the Mabeya, and are waiting for Christian teachers, 
 whom they promise to support. 
 
 There is a boarding-school for boys and another for girls, 
 at Batanga, with eight day-schools in the different towns. 
 It was hoped to escape the difficulty as to language under 
 German rule, but it has re-appeared in another though much 
 less exacting form. The German government does not 
 forbid the teaching of the vernacular, but requires German 
 in addition at the coast, which makes it necessary for the 
 teachers to understand that tongue. Many native dialects 
 are spoken in the neighborhood, and much trouble has 
 arisen with some of the tribes, who object to having their 
 children taught in the Benga, the language of the majority. 
 So strong is this prejudice, that at one time the schools 
 were almost deserted. 
 
 to--uA» 2 w^;^he Training Class for African preachers is under the 
 - ekftrg« of Miss Isabella A. Nassau, whose long experience 
 in Africa gives her especial fitness for this most import¬ 
 ant work. 
 
 Medical work has been done to some extent and with 
 good results. The natives built a small hospital, and a dis¬ 
 pensary has since been added. 
 
 The death of Mrs. Baffin in November, 1894, after a 
 brief but effective service, and the return of Dr Baffin to 
 the United States because of serious illness, threw upon 
 Mrs. Roberts, happily a regularly trained physician, the 
 entire burden of the medical work. Although somewhat 
 enfeebled by the climate, she stood bravely at her post until 
 she too fell a victim to the fatal African fever in May, 1896, 
 leaving behind her the memory of work well and lovingly 
 done for the Master. The station remained without a physi- 
 
 T cian till November of the same year when N. H. D. Cox, 
 M. D., and Mrs. Cox joined the mission. 
 
 By authority of the Board and with the 
 Efulen approval of the Mission, Dr. A. C. Good, 
 
 accompanied by native carriers only, made 
 several tours of exploration into the interior, beginning 
 July, 1892, with a view to opening mission work back from 
 the coast. He penetrated the interior to a point about 150 
 miles from Batanga, passing entirely through the forest 
 belt. He selected as a site for the first station a hill near 
 Nkonemekak, about 1,800 feet above sea level, and called 
 
i8 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 
 
 by the natives Efulen, (“a mingling”). This site being 
 subsequently visited by a committee of the Mission, was on 
 recommendation approved by the Board. In 1893 Dr. 
 Good, the Rev. R. H. Milligan and Mr. M. Henry Kerr 
 were assigned to the work of establishing a station at this 
 point, the two latter having joined the Mission a few months 
 before. A little later Silas F. Johnson, M. D., and Mrs. 
 Johnson and Rev. Melvin Fraser were assigned to the 
 Station. Mr. Kerr, who is a mechanic, with the help of 
 native workmen whom he trained for the purpose, soon 
 built a temporary house, and later a more permanent one, 
 together with the necessary furniture ; and subsequently a 
 school-house and dormitory for bo5^s. In addition to the 
 study of the language, and looking after the material inter¬ 
 ests of the Station, a good deal of itinerating work was 
 done by the missionaries in the surrounding towns In the 
 intervals between his tours of exploration, Dr. Good reduced 
 the Bull! language to writing, and prepared a Primer, and 
 subsequently translated the four Gospels, all of which, with 
 the aid respectively of the American Tract Society and the 
 American Bible Society, have been printed and sent to the 
 field. The Gospels were eagerly welcomed by the people, 
 and in three weeks, twenty-eight copies were sold. 
 
 After completing this work. Dr. Good in accordance with 
 the plan approved by the Mission and the Board, made an 
 exploring tour to the east and southeast of Efulen, covering 
 some 400 miles. Being disappointed about carriers, he 
 returned in advance of the time he had fixed, quite out of 
 health, and was immediately seized with African fever to 
 which he fell a victim December 13, 1894. He was greatly 
 beloved and his death was sincerely mourned not only b}^ 
 the Mission but by the Church at large. History will accord 
 him a prominent place in the ranks of the missionary explorers 
 of the Dark Continent. 
 
 During his last journey Dr. Good had selected 
 ElatV 4 ^ Ebolewo’e as a site for the second station, 
 
 which was subsequently approved by the 
 Mission and the Board, and was occupied in 1895 by Mr. M. 
 Henry Kerr, Rev. Melvin Fraser and the Rev. C. W. 
 McCleary, the last named having joined the Mission that 
 year. The Rev. W. C. Johnston and Mrs. Johnston having 
 also arrived in 1895, were assigned to PTulen in place of Mr. 
 Kerr and Mr. Fraser. The name Elatte has been given to 
 the Mission settlement, which is about 75 miles east of 
 
THE MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 19 
 
 Efulen. Both a temporary and more permanent house have 
 already been built, together with a slight structure for a 
 school-house, and evangelistic and educational work are 
 fairly begun. More recent exploration of the country makes 
 it probable that Elatte can be reached from Batanga by a more 
 direct route than that via Efulen. 
 
 During one of Dr. Good’s journeys of explora- 
 The Dwarfs tion, he came upon a village of Dwarfs. A 
 detailed statement of his experience is given in 
 a letter which will be found in The Chiirch at Home and 
 
 Ab 7 'oad o{ ]a.n\iary, 1894. 
 
 “ His lebtci^fell under the eye of a nobl^.-^Sr^istian lady in Scot¬ 
 land whose heartS^ad been deeply touched'''5y Mr. stonley’s reference 
 to the Dwarfs in hiKhook, “ ThroupJj''f5arkest AfricaSi After corres¬ 
 pondence with the Bo^rd of For;pi^ Missions, she agr&*d to furnish 
 funds with which to D^giu„<(M sustain mission work a^Hong tt 
 ^Dwarfs, provided the BQa«^would undertake it. On the basi^^per 
 heral offer, the R^fp'f^mith ^S^dner Dunning was appomi^Q to 
 Gaboon and C^flsco Mission fovtlm purpose of enten^g upon this’' 
 workS^cE-feWe Board expects to appe^m another nufeionary on the 
 same bpi^i^when he can be found. Mean^ihle, Mir Roberts and Mr. 
 Hiejsman oS<mr Mission, have made furtlmjii^xplorations and dis- 
 cp^red quite a''«^niber of Dwarfs hangmg^onrhe outskirts of the 
 [abeya tribe. It iS'-fi^ed that because of the mi^catory habits of 
 these people, it may be ibniid difficuitro do permanentN^rk among 
 them, but the present purpo^^k^ro reach them as far as possible in 
 their own towns, and endeavm^^lfft^ring some of the most promising 
 youth to the coast for instriKfuon iu^ble truth, and in the rudiments 
 of education.” 
 
 Besides the schools and churches enumerated, 
 ments ^ great encouragement is found in the following 
 facts:-— 
 
 (1) There is earnest desire for education on the part of 
 many of the natives. 
 
 (2) Increase of interest in civilization is shown by the 
 natives through the entire mission field. 
 
 (3) There is an open door to the interior. 
 
 (4) Freedom for woman’s work is absolute, there being 
 nothing in the native ideas or customs to prevent a woman 
 doing all that her time, capability and strength may suggest 
 in either village itineration, teaching of girls and women, 
 or higher education of men. 
 
 (5) The rapid increase of native licentiates and candi¬ 
 dates for the ministry, promises a supply of native pastors. 
 
 (6) A disposition to .self-support is growing. 
 
 (7) There is a general increase of respect for law—a 
 notable instance of which is an attempt of the Benito people 
 
20 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OP 
 
 to remedy the evils of the prevalent anarchy by setting up a 
 government modeled on a limited monarchy, which, though 
 imperfect, showed that the gospel had made possible an 
 effort toward civilization. 
 
 (8) The interest, dating from the travels of Tivingstone 
 and Stanley, with which the eyes of all the world are turned 
 to Africa. 
 
 In connection with these recent discoveries, the Congo 
 Free State, embracing about 25.000,000 inhabitants, has 
 been secured to civilization and mission effort by the protec 
 tion of the great powers of Europe. All these events cannot 
 fail to have an important bearing on missionary labor in this 
 land. 
 
 Climate and 
 Health 
 
 In regard to the objection often made against 
 missions in Africa, that it is the “ white man’s 
 grave,” it is just to say :— 
 
 (1) In so large a country as Africa, what might be true 
 of one part would not necessarily be true of another part. 
 Statements are made as incorrectly on the point of health as 
 they are on the point of heat. The average of heat during 
 the year in the Gaboon and Corisco mission is 80° Fahren¬ 
 heit, and it never reaches above 98° in the shade. With 
 the exception of the months of February and March, the 
 nights are comfortably cool; and in June, July and August 
 blankets are required. The experience thus far in the 
 interior seems to promise better conditions of health than on 
 the coast. 
 
 (2) It is true, that there has been great loss of the life 
 of white men on the west coast of Africa. This has been 
 mainly of sailors and those engaged in commerce, many of 
 whom live lives whose character, moral or hygienic, gives 
 reason other than the climate for their deaths. And the 
 fact of those unexplained deaths has operated unjustly 
 against the country’s reputation. 
 
 (3) Certain parts, e. g., Sierra Leone and also the Upper 
 Guinea coast, have been severe on even missionary life. 
 
 (4) As the equator is approached, and also south of the 
 equator, health improves. The mortality in the Gaboon 
 and Corisco mission has, therefore, been less than at Liberia 
 and other points north. 
 
 (5) The numerous returns of workers from the Gaboon 
 and Corisco mission have not all been due to ill-health. 
 Unfitness for the work, and difficulty about the care of 
 children have been frequent causes. 
 
THE MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 21 
 
 (6) Mental depression, due to the painful isolation of 
 African mission stations, has made a physical condition in 
 which fever-seeds, not otherwise dangerous, became fatal. 
 Some of the earlier deaths were induced by intense home¬ 
 sickness. 
 
 (7) All these causes operate less now than formerly. 
 People know better how to take care of health. Profit is 
 made by the experience of others. Food supplies are better. 
 Household arrangements are more healthful. Frequent 
 mail communications and the fresh, earnest support and 
 practical sympathy, especially of the Women’s Foreign Mis¬ 
 sionary Societies, have bridged over the long distance 
 between Africa and home-love, and made less painful and 
 depressing. the isolation which is distinctive of an African 
 missionary’s life. 
 
 STATISTICS 1897. 
 
 Missionaries. 30 
 
 Native workers. 50 
 
 Churches . 8 
 
 Communicants.1267 
 
 Pupils in schools. 693 
 
 Pupils in Sunday-school'^..1323 
 
 Liberia Mission. 
 
 _ . The mission supported in part by the Presby- 
 
 andVisLrv terian Board, under the care of the Presbytery 
 
 ^ of Western Africa, lies in the republic of Liberia, 
 
 whose limits are 7° ^25' N. lat. down to 4° 44' N. lat., 
 including a little over five hundred miles of sea-coast, wfith 
 an average width in the interior of fifty miles. This interior 
 extension may be increased, the territory of native princes 
 which has been ceded to the republic not having very definite 
 eastern limits 
 
 The first settlement on that coast was on January 7, 1821, 
 by eighty-nine free blacks who sailed from New York in 
 1820. In April, 1822, a colony of manumitted slaves from 
 the United States was planted by the American Colonization 
 Society, which for twenty-five years retained the supervision 
 of them, under Governors Ashmun, Pinney and others, until 
 
22 
 
 HISTORICAL SKLTCH OF 
 
 the establishment of the republic, with its capital at Monrovia, 
 on July 26, 1847. Various missionary boards, representing 
 all the evangelical Christian churches, followed with their 
 agents those who had gone out as colonists. 
 
 The Government is modeled on that of the United States, 
 having a President with his Cabinet, a Senate and a House of 
 Representatives. Only negroes are allowed to hold office. 
 There is no established church, and all faiths are equally 
 tolerated. In 1896 the population comprised about 20,000 
 civilized negroes, chiefly of American origin, and 1,050,000 
 half-wild natives, who are gradually coming under the in¬ 
 fluence of civilization. The most interesting tribes are the 
 Veys, Bassos, Kroos and Mandingoes. 
 
 The Government has formed treaties with most of the 
 European countries, with Hayti and the United States. But 
 it sufers for the lack of honest and intelligent officers to 
 carry it on. Much charity may be allowed Liberia in the 
 experiment it is making. Very few of the colonists at first 
 had any experience in national affairs or political life. Most 
 of them had been reared in servitude and dependence, and 
 the new’ arrivals of manumitted slaves, sent from time to 
 time, brought with rare exceptions only poverty and ignor¬ 
 ance. This is part of the burden the government carries 
 to-day. Many of the colonists, instead of being “mission¬ 
 aries” to the heathen, became degraded themselves, adopt¬ 
 ing all the vices and even the superstitions of heathenism. 
 The admirable capabilities, agricultural and commercial, of 
 the country have been developed almost solely by foreign 
 capital and energy. 
 
 , The first mission work in Liberia was done by 
 MissionLies a .slave who, having bought his free¬ 
 
 dom, was sent thither by Baptist aid in 1821, 
 and labored until his death, in j828. In answer to an appeal 
 by Governor Ashmun in 1825, there came Swiss mission¬ 
 aries from Basle, w’ho finally were transferred to Sierra 
 Leone. 
 
 The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
 Missions in 1834 sent Rev. J. L. Wilson, who settled at 
 Cape Palmas. Thither followed him Rev. Messrs. White, 
 Walker, Griswold and Alexander Wilson and their wives. 
 At first there was success ; but after some reverses the mis¬ 
 sion was, seven years later, removed to Gaboon. 
 
 The Presbyterian mission was commenced in February, 
 1833, at Monrovia, by Rev. J. B. Pinney, the more special 
 
THE MISSIONS IN AFRICA, 
 
 23 
 
 object being work among the aborigines, and only incident¬ 
 ally for the colonists. Stations were extended to the Kroo 
 coast, near Cape Palmas. Messrs. Laird, Cloud, Finley, 
 Canfield, Alward and Sawyer lived very short lives in the 
 hostile climate. The Board then, in 1842, tried the experi¬ 
 ment of sending only colored ministers, among whom were 
 Rev. Messrs. Eden, Priest and Wilson ; and Settra Kroo, 
 Sinoe (Greenville) and Monrovia were occupied. The place 
 made vacant by Mr, Eden’s death was, in 1847, occupied by 
 Rev H. W. Ellis, a freed slave from Alabama. The Presby¬ 
 tery of Western Africa was constituted in 1848, and attached 
 to the Synod of Philadelphia. But it was found that Amer¬ 
 ican negroes w^ere not exempt from fever, and, by their slave 
 origin, lacked skill for the conduct of affairs ; therefore 
 other white men were sent out, notable among them Rev. 
 D. A. Wilson, who did effective educational work at the 
 Alexander High School, established at Monrovia in 1849. 
 Mr. B. V. R. James, a colored man, also carried on a very 
 successful school, his integrity and ability making him 
 remarkably useful. 
 
 After many discouragements, there came a year of bless¬ 
 ing in 1857. Rev. Messrs. Amos and Miller, colored men, 
 were sent in 1859 from the Ashmun Institute (now Lincoln 
 University), and Rev. E. W. Blyden, a graduate of Alex¬ 
 ander High School, being added to the force, two new 
 stations were opened. Mr. Amos died in 1864, and Mr. 
 Miller in 1865. Rev. Edward Boeklen, of Germany, sent 
 to take charge of the High School in 1866, died in 1868. 
 The climate was exceptionally trying to white missionaries, 
 and scarcely less so to the colonist negroes, whose birth and 
 hereditary constitution in America gave them an unexpected 
 susceptibility to fever. 
 
 Liberia’s entire political power is in the hands of the 
 colonists. The appointment of white missionaries b}^ our 
 Boards to superintend the financial affairs of the several 
 missions was looked upon with suspicion, and bred animos¬ 
 ity on the part of some of the Liberians. This feeling did 
 not exist toward colored ministers from this country, and it 
 was thought, therefore, that they were the proper persons to 
 be sent to that part of Africa. The success of this policy 
 is still to be demonstrated. 
 
 The Presbyterian community in Liberia is small, number¬ 
 ing probably not over one thousand. The Methodists and 
 Baptists have strong stations and schools in the north, and 
 
24 
 
 • HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 
 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church is working in the south, 
 with headquarters at Cape Palmas. The Lutherans are 
 stationed at Muhlenberg, a little inland, where they have an 
 excellent school. 
 
 There are few common schools in the Liberian republic 
 under government care. Almost all the schools are sup¬ 
 ported by foreign missionary funds. There is a college at 
 Monrovia, supported by American non-missionary aid, for a 
 short time under the presidency of Rev. E- W. Blyden, 
 LL.D., but its status is only that of an academy. The 
 teachers of the foreign missionary schools have thus far 
 supplied all the education that the ordinary demands of the 
 country seemed to require, and the few who have wished 
 higher education have obtained it by going to America for 
 that purpose. This is not found by experience, however, to 
 be the best way, and it is hoped that in time these advantages 
 may be offered to all who desire them in their own land. 
 
 For years past the policy of the Board of Foreign Missions 
 has been gradually to throw the responsibility of the work 
 in Liberia on the Presbytery of West Africa. With a fair 
 measure of consecration and energy on the part of pastors 
 and people there seems to be no reason why the churches 
 under its care should not speedily become self-supporting. 
 It is the constant aim of the Board to bring them to ihe point 
 of providing not only for their own pastors, but for mission¬ 
 ary work among the native tribes. 
 
 The Presbytery reported in 1897 twelve churches, with 
 384 members, and nine ministers, six of whom are supported 
 by the people. There are six schools under the care of the 
 mission, two of which maintain themselves; 173 pupils are 
 reported. The Alexander High School at Clay-Ashland 
 takes the lead in educational work; the others are mixed 
 boarding and day-schools. 
 
 The great need of Liberia now seems to be that 
 The Need of educated, consecrated ministers and teachers 
 from among the aborigines, with a sufficient 
 number of well-qualified missionaries to guide and control 
 their work until those shall arise from their own people who 
 shall be equal to the task. 
 
THE MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 25 
 
 STATIONS 1897. 
 
 GABOON AND CORISCO MISSIONS. 
 
 Baraka, on the Gaboon River, near the equator, 10 miles from 
 the sea; occupied as a station, 1842; transferred from American 
 Board, 1870; laborers—Rev. Robert H. Nassau, D.D., M.D., Mr. E. 
 A. Ford, Mrs. T S. Ogden ; outstation, Corisco on Corisco Island ; i 
 native preacher, i licentiate, and 8 native teachers and helpers. 
 
 Angom, above Nengeneuge, on the Como River; occupied as a 
 station, 1881 ; laborers—Rev. W. S. Bannerman and Mrs. Bannernian, 
 Mrs. Arthur W. Marling, Rev. Smith G. Dunning; 4 native teachers 
 and helpers. 
 
 BrniTO, 92 miles north of Gaboon ; occupied as a station, 1864 ; 
 laborers—Mrs. Louise Reutlinger, Mrs. C- De Heer, Miss Hulda 
 Christensen, French teacher, Mous. Emmanuel Presset, Rev. Frank 
 Myongo, and Rev. Etiyani Nye^iye; 10 outstatious, i licentiate, i 
 Bible-woman, and 14 native teachers and helpers. 
 
 BaTanga, 170 miles north of Gaboon ; occupied as a station, 1885 ; 
 laborers—Rev. W. C. Gault and Mrs. Gault, Mr. Oscar Roberts, Rev. F. 
 D. P. Hickman, H. E. Schnatz and Mrs. Schnatz, Newman H. D. Cox, 
 M.D., and Mrs. Cox, Miss Isabella A. Nassau, Miss Louise A. Babe, 
 and Capt Peter Mcnkel, Rev. Itongolo ja Ivina; 3 outstatious, i 
 licentiate, 16 native teachers and helpers 
 
 Efulen, about 70 miles southeast of Batanga behind the coast 
 belt; occupied, 1893 ; laborers—Dr. Silas F. Johnson and Mrs. John¬ 
 son, and Rev. W. C. Johnston and Mrs. Johnston. 
 
 EIvAT^s^ about 75 miles east of Efulen; Rev. Melvin Fraser, Rev. 
 C. W McCleary, Mr. M. H. Kerr, and Albert L. Bennett, M.D. 
 
 . LIBERIA MISSION. 
 
 Careysburg, Rev. R. A. M. Deputie. 
 
 Doh, Rev. George B Peabody. 
 
 Granger, Mrs. S. E. Nurse. 
 
 Missionaries In Western Africa, 1833-1897. 
 
 ♦Died. fColored. ITraiisferred from the American Board. Higure.s, Term of 
 
 Service in the Field. 
 
 Gaboon and Corisco. 
 
 Babe, Miss Louisa, 1892 
 Bachcler, H. M. 
 
 (M. D.), 1879-1^83 
 
 Bacheler, Mrs. 1879-1883 
 
 Bannerman, Rev. W. 
 
 S., 1890 
 
 Bannerman, Mrs., 1890 
 Bennett, A. L., M D., 1807 
 *Boughton, Miss S. J., 1871-1873 
 *Brier, Rev. B. B., 1889-1890 
 
 Brier, Mrs , 1889-1890 
 
 ^JBushnell, Rev. Albert, 1844-1879 
 fBushnell, Mrs., 1852-1885 
 
 Campbell, Rev. G. C., 1880-1887 
 Campbell, Mrs., 1880-1887 
 
 Christensen, Miss 
 
 Hulda, 1891 
 
 Clark, Rev. W. H., 1861-1869 
 
 Clark, Mrs. (Miss M. 
 
 M. Jackson, 1858-), 1861-1869 
 
26 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 
 
 *Clenieiis, Rev. Wm., 1853-1862 
 *Clemeus, Mrs., 1853-1866 
 
 Cox, N. H., M. D., 1896 
 
 Cox, Mrs., 1896 
 
 *De Heer, Rev. Corne¬ 
 lius, 1855-1889 
 
 ^De Heer, Mrs., 1855-1857 
 
 De Heer, Mrs., 1864 
 
 *Dewsnap, Miss. S., 1875-1881 
 
 Dunning, Rev. S. G., 1896 
 Fraser, Rev. Melvin, 1894 
 Ford, Mr. E. A., 1891 
 
 Gault, Rev. W C , 1881 
 
 Gault, Mrs., 1881 
 
 Gillespie, Rev. S. E., 1871-1874 
 Gillespie, Mrs. (Miss 
 
 M. B. White), 1873-1874 
 Godduhn, Rev. G. A., 1890-1894 
 Godduhn, Mrs., 1890-1894 
 
 *Good, Rev. A. C., 1882-1894 
 
 Good Mrs. (Miss L. B. 
 
 Walker, 1877-), 1883-1895 
 
 tHarding, Miss M. L-, 1882-1889 
 Hendricks, Mrs. S. E. 1873-1874 
 Hickman, Rev. Frank 
 D., 1895 
 
 *Jacot, Rev. H. L , 1890-1892 
 
 Jacot, Mrs., 1890-1892 
 
 Johnson, Silas F., M. 
 
 D., 1894 
 
 Johnson, Mrs., C* 1894 
 Johnston, Rev. B. W.. 1895 
 Johnston, Mrs., 1895 
 
 Jones, Miss Lydia 1872-1888 
 Kaufman, Miss C , 1855-1858 
 
 Kerr, Mr. M. H., 1893 
 
 Kops, Rev. J. C. de B , 1871-1873 
 Kops, Mrs., 1871-1873 
 
 Laffin, Chas. J., M. D., 1893-1895 
 ■*Laffin, Mrs., 1893-1894 
 
 Loomis, C. L. (M. D.), 1859-1861 
 *Loomis, Mrs., 1859-1861 
 
 *Mackey, Rev. Jas. L , 1849-1867 
 *Mackey, Mrs., 1849-1850 
 
 Mackey, Mrs. Isabel. 1851-1867 
 McCIeary, Rev. C. W., 1895 
 McMillan, Rev. J., 
 
 (M. D.), 1890-1893 
 
 McMillan, Mrs., 1890-1893 
 
 *McQueen, Rev. Geo , 1852-1859 
 McQueen, Mrs., 1854-18&5 
 
 *Marling, Rev. A. W., 1880-1896 
 Marling, Mrs (MissJ. 
 
 B. Cameron, 1879-), 1881 
 Menaul, Rev. John, 1868-1870 
 *Menaul, Mrs., 
 
 Menkel, P. 
 *Menkel, Mrs., 
 *Menkel, Mrs., 
 
 1868-1870 
 
 1873 
 
 1874-1882 
 
 1890-1894 
 
 Milligan, Rev. R. H., 1893-1895 
 Murphy, Rev. S. H., 
 
 1871-74; 1877-80 
 Murphy, Mrs., 1871-1874 
 
 Nassau, Rev. R. H., D. 
 
 D. (M. D.), 1861 
 
 *Nassau, Mrs. (Miss M. 
 
 C. Latta, i860-), 1862-1870 
 
 ^Nassau, Mrs. Mary F., 1881-1884 
 Nassau, Miss Isabella 
 A.,. 1868 
 
 ^Ogden, Rev. Thos. S., 1858-1861 
 Ogden, Mrs., 1858-1861; 1882 
 *Paull, Rev. George, 1863-1865 
 Reading, Mr. J. H., 
 
 1875-77; 1880-1888 
 Reading,Mrs ,1875-77; 1880-1886 
 *Reutlinger, Rev. S., 1866-1869 
 Reutlinger, Mrs. 
 
 Louise, 1866 
 
 Roberts, Oscar, 1894 
 
 ^Roberts, Mrs. M.D., 1894-1896 
 Robinson, Rev. W. H., 1881-1886 
 Robinson, Mrs., 1884-1886 
 
 Schnatz, Rev. H. E., 1894 
 
 Schnatz, Mrs. (Miss 
 Engels). 1895 
 
 Schorsch, Rev. W., 1873-1876 
 
 *Simpson, G. W , 1849-1851 
 
 *Sinipson, Mrs. 1849-1851 
 
 *Smith,Mrs. J. M. (Miss 
 J. M. Lush, 1873- 
 1876), 1876-1881 
 
 Taylor, G. W. (M. D.), 1873-1874 
 l^'^Walker, Rev. W., 1879-1884 
 
 Williams, Rev. E- T., 1853-1854 
 
 Williams, Mrs., ’853-1855 
 
 *Alward, Rev. Jon¬ 
 athan P., 
 
 Alward, Mrs., 
 *Amos, Rev.Thomas 
 H.,t 
 
 Liberia. 
 
 *Amos, Rev. James R.,ti859-i864 
 1839-1841 *Barr, Rev. Joseph, 1832-1832 
 1839-1841 Blaine, W. H., t 1891 
 Blyden, Rev. E. W.,t 
 
 1859-1869 1857-1861 ; 1873-1878 
 
the: missions in AFRICA. 
 
 27 
 
 Blyden,Mrs. t 1873-1878 
 
 *Boeklen, Rev. Edward, 1866-1868 
 Brown, Mr. H. D., 1882-1885 
 
 ^Canfield, Rev. Oren K. ,1839-1842 
 Canfield, Mrs., 1840-1842 
 
 •Cloud, Rev. John, 1833-1833 
 Coke, Miss Louisa,t 1847-1848 
 Connelly, Rev. J. M., 1844-1849 
 *Cranshaw, Mrs. J. D. ,11888-1891 
 •Deputie, Rev. J. M., t 1869-1877 
 Deputie, Mrs.,t 1869-1877 
 
 Deputie, J. M., Jr.,t 1888-1895 
 Deputie, Rev. R..A. 
 
 M.,t 1870 
 
 Diggs, Mrs. E. A.,t 1878-1881 
 *Dillon, Rev. T. E ,t 1865-1879 
 Dillon, Mrs.,t 1865-1879 
 
 ^Donnell, Rev. D. L.,t 1878-1879 
 Donnell, Mrs., (Mrs 
 David),t 18S0-1881 
 
 *Eden, Rev. James, t 1843-1847 
 Ellis, Rev. H. W., t 1846-1851 
 *Erskine, Rev. H. W.,ti848-i876 
 Ethrige, Mrs. R. A.,f 1882-1887 
 *Ferguson, Mr. D C.,t 1863-1873 
 *Finley, Mr. F. J. C.,t 1834-1835 
 Flournoy, P. F.,t 1871-1876; 1882 
 Frazier, Rev. D. W., f 1883-1896 
 George, S.J.,t 1891-1895 
 
 *Harrison, Rev. Simon,11854-1872 
 Harrison, Mrs., f 1854-1872 
 *Herring, Rev. Amos,t 1854-1873 
 Herring, Mrs., f 1854-1873 
 
 Herndon, Mr. Jas. P.,f 1888-1891 
 Hilton, Rev. J.W. N.,41889-1894 
 •Herring, Rev Amos,t 1854-1873 
 Herring, Mrs., f 1854-1873 
 •James, Mr. V. B. R.,t 1849-1868 
 Jones, Mrs. M.,t 1880-1885 
 Jones, J.E.,t 1891-1895 
 
 Kennedy, Rev. Z. R.,41878-1882 
 Kennedy, Mrs., 4 1878-1882 
 
 King, Mr. A. B .,4 1870-1895 
 
 King, Mrs. B.,4 1870-1895 
 
 King, Robert D., 4 1891-1892 
 
 •Laird, Rev. M., j 1833-1834 
 
 Laird, Mrs., 1833-1834 
 
 •McDonogh, Mr. W., 4 1842-1871 
 •Melville, Mr. F. A., 4 1856-1868 
 •Miller, Rev. Armi- 
 
 stead, 4 1859-1865 
 
 Nurse, Mrs. S. E. (Mrs. 
 
 Waters, 1876-), 4 18— 
 
 Parsons, Mrs. Mary 
 E .,4 1855-1858 
 
 Payne, Mrs. G. C .,4 1893 
 
 Peabody, Rev. G. B., 4 1895 
 •Perry, Rev. Frank B., 1887-1895 
 •Perry, Mrs., 1887-1888 
 
 Pinney, Rev- J. B., 
 
 1832-35 ; 1839-1840 
 •Priest, Rev. James 
 
 M .,4 1843-1883 
 
 •Priest, Mrs., 4 1843-1880 
 
 •Priest, Mr. J. R., 4 1879-1880 
 
 Priest, Mrs., 4 1879-1882 
 
 •Roberts, Rev. Thos. 
 
 H .,4 1888-1889 
 
 •Sawyer, Rev. Robt.W., 1840-1843 
 Sawyer, Mrs.. 1841-1849 
 
 Sevier, Rev. S. S., 4 1884-1887 
 
 •Strobel, Miss C., 4 1850-1864 
 
 Temple, Mr. James, 4 1833-1834 
 Tytler, Mr. Ephraim ,4 1837-1839 
 Van Tyne, Miss C., 1841-1844 
 
 White, Mr. J., 1855-1856 
 
 White, Mrs., 1855-1856 
 
 Williams, Rev. E. T., 1856-1860 
 Wilson, Rev. David A.,1850-1858 
 Wilson, Mrs., 1850-1858 
 
 •Wilson, Rev.Thomas,41843-1846 
 Witherspoon, Mr. M. 
 
 M .,4 1862-1863 
 
 Books of Reference. 
 
 Abbeokuta : Origin and Progress of the Yoruba Mission. Miss 
 C. Tucker. 3.^. (id. 
 
 Alexander Mackay of Uganda. By his Sister. $1.50 
 Adventures in the Great Forest of Equatorial Africa. Paul du 
 Chaillu. $1.75 
 
 Children of the Kalahari. $1.15. 
 
 _ Crowned in Palm Land. R. H. Nassau. $1.75. 
 
 Eastern Africa as a Field for Missionary Labor. Sir Bartle Frere. 
 5-y- 
 
28 HISTORICAI. SKETCH OF THE MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Egypt’s Princes. A Narrative of Missionary Labor. $1.75. 
 Expedition to the Zambesi. D. Livingstone. I5.00. 
 
 First Christian Mission on the Congo. H. Grattan Guinness. 
 
 Five Years with the Congo Cannibals. Herbert Ward. $2.25 
 Forty Years among the Zulus. Rev. Josiah Tyler 
 Gaboon Stories. Mrs S. J. Preston. 80 cents. 
 
 Garenganze: Seven Years’ Pioneer Work in Central Africa. 
 
 Fred. S. Arnot. $1.25 
 
 George Pauli of Ben it . S. Wilson, D. D. ;gi.oo. 
 
 Glimpses of Western Africa. S. J. Whiton. 85 cents. 
 
 How I found Livingstone. H. M. Stanley. $3.50. 
 
 In Darkest Africa. H. M. Stanley. 
 
 Life of Bishop Hannington. E. C. Dawson. 
 
 Life of David Livingstone. Samuel Smiles. 
 
 Life’s Adventures in South Africa. R. Moffat. 75 cents. 
 Missionary Landscapes in the Dark Continent. Rev. Janies 
 Johnston 
 
 Missionarj' Travels and Researches in South Africa. D. Living¬ 
 stone. $1.75. 
 
 Nyassa: the Founding of Livingstonia. E. D. Young, ys. 6d. 
 Reality versus Romance in Africa. James Johnston, M. D. 
 
 Sierra Leone ; or the White Man’s Grave. G. A. L. Banbury. 
 
 105. 6d. 
 
 The Congo, and the Founding of Its Free State. H M. Stanley. 
 
 2V. flO.OO 
 
 The Gospel on the Banks of the Niger. S. Crowther and J. Taylor. 
 $1.50. 
 
 The New World of Central Africa. Mrs. H. Grattan Guinness. 
 $2.00. 
 
 The Ogowe Band. J. H. Reading. $3.00. 
 
 The Story of Uganda. S. G. Stock. $1.25. 
 
 The Wild Tribes of the Soudan F. L. Janies. 215 
 Through the Dark Continent. H. M. Stanlev. 2v. 
 
 Trophies from African Heathenism. Robert Young, F.R.S., G.S. 
 Tropical Africa. H. Drummond. 50 
 
 Twenty Years in Central Africa; the Story of the Universities’ 
 Mission. H. Rowley. 35. 6d. 
 
 Western Africa. J. Leighton Wilson, D.D. $1.25. 
 
 Zulu Land. Rev. Lewis Grout. 50. 
 
•PHIUDCLPHIA-