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Reconstruction 
 In West Africa 
 
 A GATHERING TOGETHER 
 OF THE 
 
 Reports of the West 
 Africa Mission 
 
 FROM 
 
 May 1, 1915 —April 30, 1916 
 
 Board of Foreign Missions 
 of the Presbyterian Church 
 in the U. S. A. 
 
 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY 
 
At a Conference between Prot¬ 
 estant Mission Boards at work in 
 Kamerun, W. Africa, July, 1914, the 
 following agreement as to division of 
 territory was agreed upon: 
 
 1. The Presbyterian Mission to occupy 
 the territory outlined in its report, includ¬ 
 ing the Yebekole work, and the Abongmbang 
 Road so as to connect with Lomie. 
 
 2. The Gossner Mission to take the field 
 south of the Sanaga River, with the excep¬ 
 tion of the Yebekole work and the Nyong 
 strip of our work beyond Yebekole to 
 Abongmbang. Their beginning will be at 
 Semini and to go east and include Bertuga. 
 
 3. The Baptist Mission will hold to the 
 field now occupied at the Coast and toward 
 the northeast, also the field around Ngila, 
 north of Yuande, also a strip from Nyam- 
 tang, and the work near it to Ngila 
 (Ndumba), so as to keep their communica¬ 
 tion open and provide for occupation of the 
 territory lying in between. 
 
 4. The Basle Mission will expand pri¬ 
 marily toward the north and northeast, and 
 also plan advance toward Yetong with a 
 view to future occupation. 
 
 It was also agreed that, at present, work 
 at Yuande itself is not feasible or possible, 
 but that each mission advance toward it as 
 rapidly as possible. 
 
 This agreement was made just a 
 few weeks before the outbreak of the 
 European War. Now, after two years 
 of war, the Mission of the Presby¬ 
 terian Church is the only one at work 
 in this territory and the missionaries 
 are caring not only for their own 
 work, but the work of the Gossner, 
 Basle and German Baptists as far as 
 the men and means will allow. 
 
BATANGA 
 
 The work at Batanga station has been 
 sadly crippled by the War and was entirely 
 broken up for more than a year. Our people 
 were scattered, some at the Concentration 
 Camps near Fulasi, and some in Spanish 
 Guinea or in Refugee Camps on the Campo, 
 but the greater number on the various 
 plantations near Victoria. Their personal 
 effects were confiscated wherever found. 
 Many of their villages were looted, and 
 some partially or even wholly destroyed. 
 Many gardens were ruined and the long 
 neglect resulted in serious damage to 
 houses and gardens even where they had 
 not been molested. Many were killed and 
 hundreds died of starvation and disease. It 
 has been estimated that the entire number 
 of Mabeya has been reduced one-third. 
 
 Some escaped to the Bush and lived like 
 hunted animals for months before they were 
 able to reach safety on the Spanish border. 
 One of the Bible readers was thus in hiding 
 for four months. His wife became separated 
 from him and was not found until two 
 months later, soon after which she died. 
 Fifty-one persons of Makawomi, a prosper¬ 
 ous village near Kribi and our best centre 
 among the Mabeya, died during the War. 
 The death roll of the Kribi church, numbers 
 40 probably, and that of Batanga church is 
 equally large, though the exact figures are 
 not available. More than 200 fresh graves 
 were filled in Kribi while the refugees were 
 there during December-February, 1914-15. 
 Food was entirely inadequate and the people 
 suffered terribly. Those who survived were 
 pitiably gaunt and emaciated. 
 
 Once safely out of the reach of hostilities 
 our people fared much better, especially 
 
 1 
 
those who went to Victoria, though even 
 there they suffered from the cold, the tem¬ 
 perature falling lower there than here 
 (Batanga) and there were numerous deaths. 
 There was no scarcity of food at the plan¬ 
 tation, however. 
 
 At all the plantations and refugee camps 
 services were held by the ministers and 
 elders, all serving without pay, as no attempt 
 was made after the people left home to 
 continue the offerings. The spiritual life 
 of the people, while many fell away, was 
 really much better than might have been 
 expected. The majority of the members 
 of Ubenji church were in the villages on 
 the Spanish side of the Campo and in the 
 refugee camps near there, and they were 
 frequently visited during the year from 
 Benito. There also the services were regu¬ 
 larly kept up by the elders and others. 
 
 As soon as the War in Kamerun was 
 practically at an end, the reoccupation of 
 Batanga station was authorized by the 
 Commander of the Allied Forces, and the 
 natives were allowed to return to their 
 villages though the lack of transportation 
 facilities made the return of those at Vic¬ 
 toria a slow process extending over a period 
 of more than three months. 
 
 During the interval between the change 
 of governments, the people from the villages 
 not far from the coast came down to Kribi 
 and Batanga for loot. Our houses were 
 pretty thoroughly stripped. Valuable mat¬ 
 tresses were destroyed to obtain the few 
 yards of cloth covering them. The timely 
 arrival of one of the missionaries checked 
 them before they had quite finished their 
 work and he succeeded in recovering a great 
 deal of the stolen goods, but the losses were 
 serious. When the missionaries finally 
 returned to the station, February, 1916, they 
 found the grounds were badly overgrown 
 and a number of the buildings badly in need 
 
 2 
 
of repair. The work of rehabilitation is a 
 task of such magnitude that even yet a 
 great deal remains to be done, though the 
 work of clearing up has been pushed as 
 rapidly as the difficulty of obtaining work¬ 
 men and of feeding them would permit, be¬ 
 cause of the danger of an epidemic of 
 dysentery. 
 
 As the people returned more or less desti¬ 
 tute, to villages damaged or entirely 
 destroyed, and found that the boxes of their 
 personal effects which they had stored at the 
 Mission had been confiscated by the govern¬ 
 ment, they sought to find some one to blame 
 for their misfortunes and many affected 
 to believe the Mission responsible. This was 
 sufficient for a time to be very serious, but 
 most of those disaffected had never been 
 friendly to the Mission at any time (though 
 quite ready to take refuge with the mission¬ 
 ary and place their goods in his care when 
 they fancied they were in danger). The 
 bulk of our real adherents were very loyal. 
 All knew that they had been allowed tci bring 
 their boxes to the Mission with the express 
 provision that we could not prevent their 
 seizure if the Government chose to take 
 them. They also knew that valuables left 
 in their villages were lost just the same as 
 those left at the Mission. Gradually the 
 feeling toward the Mission has improved, 
 but the situation still needs very careful 
 handling, particularly on account of the 
 popular bitterness towards the Bulu. 
 
 When the Germans left the Kameruns 
 they took a large number of native carriers. 
 These returned via Campo, and about 30,000 
 crossed, the river, most of them passing 
 through our station grounds en route to 
 their homes. No estimate was made of the 
 hundreds of those who died along the road, 
 chiefly of starvation, but very many from 
 dysentery. The needs of these thousands 
 as well as the needs of many of the Batanga 
 
 3 
 
people who returned to their homes ill, fur¬ 
 nished exceptionally large opportunities for 
 medical work. Nearly all the medicines, 
 however, had been commandeered or other¬ 
 wise removed, but a small supply of neces¬ 
 saries was gathered together from various 
 sources. 
 
 In spite of all the difficulties we have been 
 very thankful for the privilege of again 
 taking up the work here. Many of our 
 people are really grateful for all that we 
 tried to do for them. All need help in this 
 trying time. The work must be reestablished 
 in every department and the amount and 
 character of the effort that it is possible 
 for us to put forth during the coming year 
 will largely affect the whole future of the 
 Cause in this district. 
 
 A Christian Headman or Chief 
 
 4 
 
EFULEN 
 
 Efulen station was closed from September 
 26, 1915-February 1, 1916, and none of the 
 members who were here previous to that 
 time are here now so this report will be a 
 mere sketch of conditions and the gathering 
 up of loose ends.— (Mrs. Weber.) 
 
 The station and grounds were very well 
 cax - ed for by the temporary occupants, dur¬ 
 ing the period of requisition. The only 
 serious loss was in the Medical Department 
 as a dog locked in the dispensary was for¬ 
 gotten, and in its fury destroyed the larger 
 amount of medicines left there, by knocking 
 the bottles to the cement floor, gnawing at 
 the window frames and chewing up the 
 medical books. He should be a well in¬ 
 formed pup if he digested all of the informa¬ 
 tion he chewed. It took some weeks to get 
 in running order again. There has been no 
 lack of patients, but they could not all be 
 cared for because of the lack of supplies and 
 instruments. The hospital beds which had 
 been carried away and burned, have been 
 replaced by others. 
 
 The work of the Church has necessarily 
 been interrupted. Many of the Bible readers 
 were called in when the Mission was ordered 
 to leave the station in September. No 
 communion service was held from July, 
 1915, until January, 1916. While many of 
 the Christians fell because of the tempta¬ 
 tions of the time, the marvel is that more 
 of them did not fall when we consider that 
 the missionaries were taken away from them 
 for such a long and trying time. The 
 licentiates in charge of the Zingi and 
 Alum churches met the responsibility thrust 
 upon them with courage and wisdom realiz¬ 
 ing as never before their dependence upon 
 God. Several of the other Bible readers 
 stood firm and did a noble work in caring 
 for the flocks under their charge. One of 
 the Bible readers was shot and killed by 
 
 5 
 
soldiers. There are now three young men 
 studying for the ministry and ten others 
 from the three churches have expressed a 
 desire to study, some of whom have been 
 accepted by the Presbytery. 
 
 The school work has been unsettled, 
 partly because of the lack of school mater¬ 
 ials. When the schools were again started 
 and the boys found out that there was to be 
 no English taught, a number of them from 
 Efulen, towards the beach refused to come 
 to school. 
 
 In spite of the spirit of lawlessness and 
 the unfriendliness of those who have ever 
 looked upon the Mission as the enemy of 
 their plans and desires, the majority of the 
 people are very glad to have the Mission at 
 work again, and things are much more en¬ 
 couraging than it was supposed would be 
 possible as after such a disturbing influence 
 as war. 
 
 Mustered into the Array 
 
 6 
 
LOLODORF 
 
 In spite of the low-hanging wai'-clouds, 
 MAC LEAN Station (LOLODORF) has 
 closed one of the best years in its history in 
 point of increase in attendance, accessions 
 and offerings. Not a single item of last 
 year’s report but what has been surpassed 
 this year and that in a time when the con¬ 
 trary might have been expected. During 
 the dark days of the latter part of the 
 War, men’s minds and hearts were turned 
 towards the Gospel as never before, and 
 although with the reopening of commerce 
 and intercourse some will again be drawn 
 away, the time of heart-searching will not 
 be entirely forgotten and some will have 
 made pledges from which they will not 
 retract, though external conditions may 
 materially change. 
 
 Ten evangelistic points have been con¬ 
 tinuously occupied for the entire year with 
 the exception of three which closed down for 
 a month during the change of Government. 
 The average attendance at the station 
 church was 668 as against 577 of the year 
 before, and at the district preaching points 
 the combined attendance for any Sunday 
 was 1594 a gain of 269. An average of 
 1644 on communion Sundays for the station 
 church was a gain of 240 over the previous 
 year; while the high-water mark for com¬ 
 munion attendance was in October, 1915, in 
 the district of the Lolodorf church, when 
 2015 were present. Mongale church, the 
 oldest child of the Lolodorf church has 
 become a lusty youngster and reports an 
 average attendance of 400, and the average 
 of the five communion points including 
 Mengale was 1438. 
 
 Lam church with its 11 evangelistic points 
 had a combined average Sunday attendance 
 of 1609 and an average communion attend¬ 
 ance of 1052. 
 
 7 
 
For the three churches there has been a 
 gain in average attendance of 1047 which 
 means that over a thousand more people 
 come every Sunday to hear the Word 
 of God. 
 
 The growth of contributions has been 
 amazing and hard of explanation, though 
 not confined to Mac Lean Station. It may 
 be partially explained that there was 
 no outlet for the purchase of anything, 
 and so more was given for religious pur¬ 
 poses, but this does not explain all. There 
 seemed to be a sudden increase in the spirit 
 of giving, regular contributors voluntarily 
 increasing and doubling their pledges, and 
 this without undue pressure. There was a 
 time just at the close of 1915 when the six 
 months’ collections were practically the 
 same as those of 12 months previous to 
 that period. 
 
 The educational and medical work was 
 carried on successfully in spite of the 
 troubled condition of the country. 
 
 The policy of Mac Lean Station is to cut 
 a new garden every dry season and this 
 has been followed even in the days when 
 no one could say that we might not be moved 
 in 24 hours. Mac Lean’s food gardens are 
 justly famous and are self-supporting and 
 more. They meet a real need as well. 
 At present the 249 Bible readers with about 
 80 of their wives who are present, would 
 find it almost impossible to gather at 
 Mac Lean were it not that the great bulk 
 of food comes from the Mission gardens, 
 as food in the surrounding towns is of high 
 price and not too plentiful. The Bible 
 readers’ Class, the Girls’ School, the 
 workmen on the place, the hospital patients 
 and other helpers are being fed, not far 
 from 500 persons a day. Two-thirds to 
 three-fourths of the food comes from the 
 Mission gardens. When one realizes that 
 150 bunches of plantain were cut a day for 
 
 8 
 
the first two weeks of the Bible readers’ 
 school, one may realize that gardens that 
 can stand this amount of cutting and 
 still remain productive, are not small. 
 
 We are thankful to God Almighty for 
 His care and protection over ourselves and 
 people for the past year. We are thankful 
 for hard work and plenty of it. We are 
 thankful for progress and interest and we 
 trust that the blessing of the Spirit may 
 continue to come upon the work of Mac Lean 
 station. 
 
 Studying by Candle Light in New Dormitories 
 
 9 
 
ELAT 
 
 During the months of December, 1915, 
 through February, 1916, the members of 
 the station were for the most part absent. 
 On December 11, 1915, the German Govern¬ 
 ment sent an order commandeering the 
 buildings of the Industrial school for the 
 purpose of making munitions of War. The 
 missionaries’ reply was that they refused 
 to occupy the other buildings of the station 
 if the Government should take possession. 
 As a result all of the Mission’s buildings 
 were commandeered by the Government. On 
 receiving the order we at once prepared our 
 property and the things we were leaving, 
 for our absence, and on January 3, 1916, 
 left the station, two of the force remaining 
 in a nearby town in order to care for the 
 interests of the Mission and the people 
 connected with the Mission and the remain¬ 
 der of the force going to Metet. After 
 the taking of Elat by the French, January 
 22d, Mr. Fraser and Mr. Dager returned to 
 the station, finding it littered with rubbish 
 and small shelters erected by the refugees 
 of whom there were about 3,000 still on the 
 place. By February 7, all the missionaries 
 had returned with the exception of the 
 Krugs, and were doing their best to clean 
 and straighten the place and again start the 
 work which had so suddenly been brought to 
 a close. The damage to our property con¬ 
 sisted mostly of the destruction of the gar¬ 
 dens, the damage to the buildings and the 
 littering of the property. 
 
 THE CHURCH AT ELAT 
 
 While the European nations have been 
 pitting black man against black, and the 
 white men upon whom the people had here¬ 
 tofore looked as representing law and order 
 and peace had turned to killing each other, 
 the Church has stood as a lighthouse point¬ 
 ing out the way to better things. The 
 
 10 
 
evangelists have been able to remain at 
 their posts, with the exception of a few 
 weeks as the Germans withdrew on the 
 arrival of the French and English forces. 
 
 The offerings for the year have been 
 larger than on any previous year. The 
 accessions to the church by baptisms have 
 been almost that of the preceding year. 
 The number of persons confessing Christ 
 for thd first time has been large, while 
 the attendance at the Sabbath preaching 
 services has been equal to that of other 
 years. Many have fallen before the temp¬ 
 tations that have come upon them during 
 the general unrest and unsettled conditions 
 due to the war, yet the number who have 
 withstood temptations and have suffered for 
 their faith has also been large. 
 
 The church has reached a membership of 
 4,074, of whom 1,027 were added during 
 the year, an increase of more than 25% of 
 her previous membership. But Satan has 
 had a splendid opportunity to work and has 
 left his mark upon the church. Not 
 only have the ordinary restraints been re¬ 
 moved, making it easy to fall into sin, but 
 people have been taken from their homes 
 as carriers and women have ofttimes become 
 a spoil for black soldiers, so that we rather 
 marvel at the way God has kept His church 
 through it all. The advanced catechumen 
 class received an addition of 1,123 persons, 
 while 2,892 were added to the roll of those 
 who have confessed Christ during the year. 
 It was feared at the beginning of the war 
 that the church offerings would decrease. 
 But in this we were mistaken. The offer¬ 
 ings this year at Elat have been larger than 
 ever before. Chapels are being built, 
 Bible-readers have been paid and the church 
 at Elat is helping the Batanga church to 
 repair their church building, which was 
 damaged by the war. Twelve young men 
 also have given themselves to the Gospel 
 ministry, have been accepted by the session 
 
 11 
 
and will be recommended to presbytery at 
 its next meeting. There are twenty-two 
 members of the Elat church looking toward 
 the ministry, and there is a pressing need 
 for them. 
 
 It has been impossible for the church to 
 push its work into the region beyond, as it 
 had begun to do before the war, but while 
 the Bible readers have all been withdrawn 
 from the new Cameroons, south of the 
 Campo river, the fact that the people from 
 that region have recently been asking that 
 they be sent back shows that the work 
 already done in that field has begun to bear 
 fruit. The 112 Bible readers scattered over 
 the country had a splendid effect on the 
 people during the time they were without 
 government control. The mutineers, black 
 soldiers, who had broken away from the 
 German army, with their guns and ammuni¬ 
 tion, as a rule respected the Bible readers 
 and made them no trouble. During the 
 interim between the two governments there 
 was a great deal of lawlessness. The people 
 who were not Christians said that God had 
 gone and that there would be a new god 
 come after a time; but the fact that the 
 evangelists were at their posts preaching 
 the Gospel as usual went far to disabuse 
 the minds of the people of the idea that 
 God had left them and they could do as 
 they pleased. 
 
 The work of the church is well organized 
 and is under the supervision of six theologs. 
 The church is perhaps in a better position 
 to-day to extend her work into new regions 
 than ever before. The field before her is 
 large, and we believe that in the doing of 
 this missionary work she will add to her 
 spiritual strength and take on new life. 
 
 SCHOOLS 
 
 In moving things to Metet at the time 
 the station was requisitioned, a box con¬ 
 taining the school papers and records was 
 
 12 
 
I 
 
 Boys at Their Desks in School 
 
 Boys Grading for New School-house 
 
 13 
 
lost. The German Government forbade the 
 conducting of a Bulu school at the sta¬ 
 tion, but the village schools were continued. 
 Here and there a school was interfered 
 with by the black soldiers, but as a rule the 
 work was undisturbed by anything but the 
 general unrest. Sixteen per cent, of the 
 pupils in attendance at these schools were 
 girls. When the boys were told that only 
 Bulu would be taught and that no other 
 language would take the place of the Ger¬ 
 man, until affairs were settled at the close 
 of the European War, many of them 
 thought there was no reason why they 
 should attend the school. However, that 
 idea is fast losing ground and the indica¬ 
 tions are that all will return when another 
 term opens. 
 
 The generally unsettled condition of af¬ 
 fairs throughout the country has had its 
 effect on the school work. The tuition re¬ 
 ceived has been much less than in previous 
 years, while in a number of places the 
 teachers had to flee from their posts as the 
 Germans withdrew and in the looting that 
 followed by the black soldiers—quite a 
 quantity of school supplies were lost. 
 Although far from self-supporting it has 
 been worth a great deal to the villages to 
 have them in operation, as it gave the 
 people confidence at a time when govern¬ 
 ment control was lacking. 
 
 Although the medical work was closed 
 for a part of the year at the time of the 
 evacuation of Elat, many sick and injured 
 were turned over to the Mission for aid. 
 
 14 
 
METET 
 
 Metet Station report opens with these 
 words: 
 
 The old order changeth giving place to 
 the new, but the Lord our God is the same 
 yesterday, to-day and forever. 
 
 The year has been one of anxiety, of un¬ 
 certainty, of great opportunities, privileges 
 and blessings. God has been wonderfully 
 good to us and to the people among whom 
 we labor. We were, perhaps, the most un¬ 
 touched by the ravages of war. We suffered 
 not at all from the want of proper food. 
 We were privileged to minister to many 
 Europeans, both officials and missionaries 
 of various nationalities, and our hill was a 
 haven of refuge for the frightened natives 
 during the change of regimes. 
 
 Surely the Lord is good and His 
 loving kindness endureth forever. 
 
 The evangelistic work has suffered many 
 ups and downs, but on the whole has main¬ 
 tained a steady growth. It has been im¬ 
 possible to get a complete list of all those 
 who were written to in the Catechumen 
 class, as the records of confessors were 
 destroyed by a company of mutineers. It 
 is gratifying, however, to note that there 
 have been but few cases of discipline and 
 the small membership have seemed to adhere 
 strictly to their vows and endeavor to keep 
 themselves unspotted from the world. 
 
 The attendance at church services has 
 kept up well, and on communion Sundays 
 has even reached the 2,000 mark. Eight 
 Bible readers and 24 school boys have done 
 work in the outlying regions for their 
 food money and have done well. The col¬ 
 lections have been good, considering the 
 confusion and uncertainties of the war. 
 Only one month did they fall below the 
 
 15 
 
self-support mark, while the aggregate has 
 been sufficient to pay all expenses. 
 
 In the Yebekole region it has been im¬ 
 possible to have any missionary oversight, 
 and the work has been carried on by a 
 teacher and Bible reader, but our houses 
 have remained intact and a few faithful 
 ones are holding on. Two Bible readers 
 have recently been sent to gather up the 
 scattered ends and keep the work going 
 until such time as a school can be started. 
 
 Our work is getting a firmer grip on the 
 people in some places, while in others it 
 seems as though every obstacle possible is 
 put in the way and the people are falling 
 away because there is not sufficient pressure 
 to keep the men from their deeds of law¬ 
 lessness. Gambling is rampant. Women 
 and young girls are exchanged and given 
 in pawn. Fetish medicine flourishes, old 
 palavers are being brought to light, many 
 headmen have usurped the right to cut 
 palavers, and their police are plundering, 
 robbing and beating the people, and it seems 
 that no evil deed is too black for Satan to 
 carry out during his temporary reign. He 
 is having his inning and playing it with a 
 vengeance. It is an uphill fight to protect 
 the Christians and one that takes the cour¬ 
 age, patience and abundant faith of the 
 missionary. 
 
 There has been considerable difficulty in 
 arranging a course in the schools which 
 would appeal to the boys and be of real 
 service to them, as it was believed not to 
 be best to teach a foreign language, that 
 pet of all the natives, not knowing what 
 nation would claim the land at the close 
 of the war. The first term of the year, 
 March, there was an enrollment of 210. 
 Mr. Oxas, of the Gossner Mission, having 
 to close the new work in which he and 
 a colleague were engaged in the Mekae 
 country, came to Metet to await the out¬ 
 come of the war and assisted in the Boys’ 
 
 16 
 
The Old Bark School-house 
 
 The New Brick Galvanized Iron School-house— 
 Bricks made by School Boys 
 
 17 
 
school. The weekly allowance of salt had 
 to be discontinued owing to its scarcity, but 
 the boys seemed to appreciate the situation. 
 The 42 village schools were flourishing until 
 the mutineers came through the district in 
 July, 1915. The more remote of the schools 
 were closed. Nearly all were closed when 
 the war zone reached Metet in January, 
 1916. 
 
 The definite policy for industrial work, 
 laid out by the Mission in September, 1914, 
 has been persistently carried out. The ex¬ 
 perimental cocoa garden and the palm 
 orchard have done very well. While the 
 cocoa and the 1025 plantains set out to 
 give the young cocoa trees shade have been 
 growing, a crop of cassava and two of corn 
 have been harvested from this cleared 
 ground, and a third crop of corn is growing. 
 The harvesting of palm nuts has begun in 
 earnest. There is an unlimited local mar¬ 
 ket for all the oil we can produce and we 
 can sell at a good profit. As soon as lye 
 can be obtained the making of soap will be 
 begun on a large scale. Besides caring for 
 the orchards already planted, 150 pear 
 trees, 15 mesa, 300 pawpaw, 2 acres of 
 peanuts, 2 of corn and 2 of cassava were 
 planted. Coffee bushes were set out, Mexi¬ 
 can chestnuts, Batanga cherries, loquot 
 trees and larger gardens of cassava, corn 
 and peanuts. We have been preparing for 
 the future by distributing seeds among the 
 school boys. 
 
 The school supplies are so scarce that one 
 torn and thumb-worn book must do service 
 for four or five pupils in the Girls’ schools. 
 Their interest and progress are encourag¬ 
 ing, and though there are no attractions 
 such as sewing and salt to offer, they are 
 contented. 
 
 For the first time native goats have been 
 furnishing fresh milk to the missionaries at 
 Metet. Not much milk from a goat to be 
 
 18 
 
sure, but given, say fifteen to a family, they 
 could have fresh milk the year round. 
 
 Nor has the aesthetic side been lost sight 
 of. A couple of hundred rose bushes have 
 been set out from cuttings. Some of these 
 are now flowering profusely, gladdening the 
 heart and reminding us of better climes. 
 
 The War came on before the Dispensary 
 at Metet was fully equipped but fortunately 
 there was on hand a fairly good supply of 
 the more essential drugs and there has been 
 no shortage of medicines. 
 
 According to the plan of the Government 
 it seemed probable that quite a number of 
 German women and children would seek 
 refuge at Metet in addition to members of 
 our own Mission so it seemed wise to re¬ 
 strict the amount of medicine dispensed to 
 the natives to the very needy cases. How¬ 
 ever no one suffered for the lack of medi¬ 
 cine or care. Living room was at a prem¬ 
 ium and the dispensary was used for a 
 residence, the medicines being transferred 
 to the doctor’s residence. 
 
 19 
 
At a meeting of the Board held 
 September 21st, 1914, it was voted : 
 
 “To authorize the Missions of the Board 
 which might have German or French mis¬ 
 sionaries for their neighbors to give what¬ 
 ever help might be necessary for the per¬ 
 sonal support of such missionaries and to 
 report to the Board what might be needed 
 for this purpose and also what help should 
 be given, if possible, toward the main¬ 
 tenance of the missionary work carried on 
 by such missionaries. 
 
 “To authorize the Treasurer to open a 
 special War Emergency Fund to provide 
 for the additional expense necessitated by 
 the war and to enable the Board to render 
 whatever service it might be able to the 
 missionaries of other nationalities, who are 
 suffering because of the war.” 
 
 The West Africa Mission did its 
 part in carrying out the above resolu¬ 
 tion, as will be seen by the following 
 quotation from the report of Metet 
 Station: 
 
 “Thirteen refugee missionaries and their 
 children, representing three different mis¬ 
 sionary societies, have been entertained and 
 64 passing guests of four nationalities have 
 found hospitality within our gates.” 
 
 20 
 
STATIONS OCCUPIED BY THE PRESBY- 
 TERIAN BOARD IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 SPANISH GUINEA 
 
 Benito: 77 miles north of Baraka, on the 
 coast; occupied as a Station, 1864. 
 
 CAMEROON 
 
 Batanga: 170 miles north of Baraka, on 
 the coast; occupied as a Station, 1885. 
 
 Efulen : 57 miles east of Batanga, be¬ 
 
 hind the coast belt, and 180 miles north¬ 
 east of Baraka; occupied, 1893. 
 
 Elat: 56 miles east of Efulen and 195 
 miles northeast of Baraka; occupied as a 
 Station, 1895. 
 
 MacLean Memorial Station: at Lolo- 
 dorf, 70 miles northeast of Batanga and 210 
 miles northeast of Baraka; occupied as a 
 Station in 1897. 
 
 Metet: 73.5 miles northeast of Elat; 
 occupied in 1909. 
 
 MISSIONARIES UNDER APPOINTMENT 
 
 Ordained . 18 
 
 Laymen . 8 
 
 Physicians—men . 6 
 
 Single women . 7 
 
 Wives of missionaries. 23 
 
 62 
 
 September, 101 o. 
 
 Form No. 2416.