While our porters are being collected, barter goods purchased, and the loads readjusted and weighed for the carriers, let us take a brief study of the Dark Continent we are about to enter, and of one or two events which have, in the providence of God, permitted some rays of light to penetrate the gloom of its vast unknown.
My mind goes back to my old school days, when we used to have unrolled before us on the wall the great, blank map of Africa. Around the coastline were a few names of places, some of which represented a mere collection of small grass huts, or a spot where some European had camped. The entire center was void and empty, save for a few dotted lines, representing the imaginary courses of one or two rivers of which nothing definite was known.
Since that time, much has been done through the Herculean achievements of a few heroic men, to lighten the mystery, which for so many centuries hung over the Continent like a funeral mantle. Of course the tracks of most of the great explorers were little more than bee-lines across the country, so that there still remain large areas on which no European has ever walked.
Among those explorers who have been most successful in making known to the world something of the heart of Africa may be mentioned the names of David Livingstone, Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, Henry M. Stanley and Joseph Thompson. The main labors of the first named and honored pioneer were in the more southern part of the Great Continent, where he discovered Lakes N'gami, Shirwa, and Nyassa, and the great Zambesi Falls.
The greater part of the work done by the other highly esteemed travelers was along the Equatorial Belt of the Continent. They all entered from the East Coast, and proceeded westward in their geographical mission.
Burton and Speke jointly discovered the beautiful Lake of Tanganyika. While Burton was resting in the country of Unyanyembe, Speke, who was of a more active disposition, collected a number of porters and, with the permission of Burton, the leader of the expedition, started off north on an exploring tour on his own account. His brilliant achievement, on that impromptu and hazardous expedition, renders his name permanent in the records of African exploration. John Hanning Speke, on that memorable journey, discovered the great inland sea of Victoria Nyanza. He returned to Burton at Unyanyembe, and made known to his comrade in travel the discovery of the great Lake, which was the source of the Nile.
In connection with this important discovery there is a sad tale to be told, which exhibits the petty jealousy of some, otherwise large-minded, African travelers—a jealousy which, it is supposed, is often excited and aggravated to a great degree by the irritancy which African malarial fever generates in those whom it has prostrated by its malignant stroke.
Burton would not believe that his companion had made a discovery of such moment and import. On his arrival in England, Richard Burton, as chief of the expedition, was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society for discovering Lake Tanganyika, and was subsequently knighted. In his lectures and writings, he sought, with honest intentions no doubt, to discredit Speke's achievement, and sought to cast suspicion on his fellow-explorer's veracity.
Speke bore the unjust stigma with heroic fortitude. For fifteen long years, his name lay under a cloud of suspicion, until Henry M. Stanley, in 1875, reached the Victoria Nyanza and corroborated Speke's discoveries, confirming his assertion that the great Lake was the main source of the Nile. The intrepid traveler, however, who was the first European to gaze upon the Lake, had then been dead for eleven years!
Had it not been for a very sad and deplorable accident, the notorious dispute between Burton and Speke might have been settled at a meeting of the British Association. It had been arranged that the two explorers should put their views before the Association, at its session of 1864. In the early morning of the day arranged for this momentous assembly, Speke went out shooting, and, while getting over a stile, the contents of both barrels of his gun were accidentally discharged into his body> and he succumbed immediately.
Until Stanley's justification of the eminent and heroic explorer, eleven years afterward, many believed that Speke had committed suicide rather than face Burton before the British Association. How sad that the work of such a man, and that of many others as noble as he, is only appreciated after they have passed away!
The illustrious exploits of Stanley have also accomplished much towards the opening up of Africa. He was the first European to cross the Dark Continent from east to west along the Equatorial Belt, and the first white man that ever sailed the Congo River, from its source to the Atlantic Ocean. It was a letter from Stanley, written at the court of Mtesa, to the London Daily Telegraph, challenging Christendom to send Missionaries to Uganda, which led the Church Missionary Society to send out the first messengers of the Gospel to that country where, under the blessing of God, the work has been so successful.
Missionaries had then been at work for a number of years on the East Coast, and when the field of Uganda was opened, a chain of Mission stations was formed between the Coast and the south end of Lake Victoria Nyanza.
The country, however, lying further north, in the vicinity of Mount Kenya, was then unexplored. The Royal Geographical Society of London sent out an expedition, commanded by Joseph Thompson, to explore this terra incognita. After many narrow escapes and great privations, he returned to the Coast, and revealed to the world the fact that the country he had traversed was inhabited by millions of people of different tribes who were keenly intelligent, though often very savage and violent.
It was to a region in this unopened and hostile country we felt called of God to go out and establish a Gospel Mission. Missionaries have added their quota to the more general knowledge of the Great Continent and its numerous tribes, especially in the departments of anthropology and philology. To the pioneering Missionary has fallen the work of reducing to writing its unknown babel of languages.
Very few seem to realize the immense magnitude of the Dark Continent, comprising, as it does, one-fifth of the whole surface of the earth. It would require the combined area of the United States of America, the island continent of Australia, the vast territories of India and China proper, and the entire continent of Europe to equal the superficial extent of the ancient forests and burning wildernesses of this marvelous Continent. The fauna of Africa is exceedingly interesting and extensive. Of the nigh unto four hundred different species of animals which roam its forest-crowned plateau and grassy plains, about three hundred are peculiar to Africa alone.
The huge pachyderms—rhinoceros, elephant and hippopotamus—revel in its marshy swamps, and crash through its bush and jungle, trumpeting and blowing like gigantic fiends. Antelopes of numerous kinds rove across the landscape in immense companies. As many as one thousand gnus are often seen browsing together in a herd. Troops of tall giraffe amble among the mimosa and acacia trees, lopping, with their long prehensile tongues, the succulent ends of the branches. Carnivorous animals abound in large numbers and, in the eastern equatorial division of the Continent, the lion and leopard attain their greatest size. A dozen and even a score of lions have often been seen together; while travelers, in one or two instances, have been confronted with a still greater number.
To the Missionary, however, who has been saved by the grace of God, and whose aspiration it is to bear the message of redeeming love, as revealed in the Gospel, to the benighted sons of men, the most interesting feature of the Dark Continent is the people who find in it their home; and the most important consideration, the best mode of overcoming the difficulties which lie in the way of conveying to their minds and hearts the glad tidings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In all lands, civilized or savage, within the circles of the learned and exalted, or among the purlieus of those who have fallen so low that they look scarcely human, there is always and everywhere that resistance to the message of the Gospel, which is defined in Scripture as the "carnal mind, which is enmity against God." However, with the exception of a tract of country along the northern coast of the Continent, where Islam predominates, Africa presents, from one point of view, much less opposition to the preaching of the Gospel than such countries as India and China, where there exist false systems of religion that have become hoary with age.
From another standpoint, nevertheless, the difficulties are inconceivably greater in Africa. If the Missionary goes to China or Japan, he finds there not only a written language, but an extensive literature, with native schools and colleges, a people possessing many of the arts and refinements of civil life, who, in fact, were civilized long before Britons had emerged from rude barbarism. In these countries one can sit down and apply oneself immediately to the learning of the language, and, having acquired it, can go through the length and breadth of the land, delivering the message of the Gospel to the people in their own tongue, dwelling in their houses, partaking of their food, wearing their garments, and utilizing their means of transport for person or baggage, be it wheelbarrow or carriage, boat or palanquin.
How vastly different are these conditions from those which prevail in the interior of Africa. In the Dark Continent there are multitudinous native tribes, speaking over six hundred different languages; and not one of these tribes have any written signs or characters with which to express their ideas. To them writing is an unknown art. Therefore, the first necessary work of the pioneer Missionary is to reduce to writing the language of the tribe among whom he is to labor, a work which requires at least several years of devoted effort. If the Missionary wants a house to live in, he must build it. If he needs a supply of food, he must carry it with him. His only means of transport is human porterage.
One has only to glance at the diary of any explorer, to find how uncertain, fickle and troublesome is this form of travel. Henry M. Stanley had only gone about a score of marches on his way through the Dark Continent, when he wrote, concerning fifty men who had deserted, taking with them their guns and accessories, "Indeed to record our daily mischances and losses up to this date in full detail would require half of this volume; but these slight hints will suffice to show that the journey of an expedition into Africa is overwhelmed with trouble and disaster."
Having taken a look at the Continent, and a few of the prevailing conditions, we get back to our camp under the palm trees, with our pile of miscellaneous supplies stacked around us. These cases contain all classes of necessary provisions, from the staple items of flour and meal, to the less important commodities of tea and biscuits, baking powder and salt, candles and soap, condensed milk and wax matches, pots and pans, enameled cups and saucers, plates and bowls, axes and tomahawks, brushes and weighing balances, hinges and door-locks, rat-traps and sewing needles, gear and medicine chests, folding beds, chairs, tables and washstands, and all the numerous necessities of household management in the jungle.
Most of the above had all been packed in London in strong wooden cases, weighing sixty to seventy pounds gross, so that they could be gladly carried on men's heads in single loads. There were a few large cases, however, which could not be taken up country: these had to be opened, and the supplies separated, and made up into loads of convenient weight for the porters to carry. To this baggage we add thirty loads of barter goods, of various kinds of beads, wire and calico. The selection of these requires a great deal of care and forethought, for the different tribes have very varied tastes, and one must study, as far as possible, their idiosyncrasies. Though the traveler may bring with him a abundant supply of barter goods, yet the obtaining of native grain for the food of his porters may absolutely depend upon the impulse and whim of the chief of the district through which he is passing.
One tribe will have beads, but they must be red; another will only have blue, while a third will have nothing but pink. Various kinds of wire also form an important item of barter. Some tribes want copper, others iron, while some prefer brass. With some of them the latest fashion is wire of the thickness of macaroni, while others must have it as fine as vermicelli. White calico, or the same material dyed blue, is acceptable to some clans, who wear a loin-covering or apron; but to other nude tribes, not at all. If the Missionary goes loaded with bales of calico, to a tribe that wears nothing but beads or wire, expecting to exchange these for food supplies for his half-starving caravan, he would be as much disappointed as the man who entered a shop in Piccadilly with a bag of cowrie shells, expecting to purchase therewith a pajama suit or silk hat.
On the first part of the journey there lay before us a belt of uninhabited jungle, and we found it necessary to attach to each man's load sixteen pounds of grain, to provide for the needs of the caravan in passing through that wilderness. Even this small item added almost two thousand pounds' weight to the already heavy loads, which had to be moved up into the interior of this roadless, marketless and foodless land, where dangers loomed heavily, and life and property were so insecure.
No Government had yet entered the country. The Imperial British East Africa Company, however, had been formed, with their headquarters in London. They had an office at Mombasa, on the East Coast of Africa, and had established two small forts, in the country lying between the Coast and Mount Kenya: one at Machakos, on the eastern border of the Masai plain, and the other at Dagoreti on the western side of the same plateau. Each fort was manned by a large number of trained Coast soldiers, under the command of a European.
The Company wrote very strongly to my husband from the London office, warning him of the great danger in attempting to begin Missionary work, in the unopened country to which we proposed going, among such dangerous people, and urging him to delay the expedition. The Secretary concluded the letter by saying, "In any case I should advise you not to think of taking your wife and family into the interior. I enclose a low estimate, which shows a necessary expenditure of £2,000 for one Missionary for the first year." The estimate ran as follows: -
Estimate for Cost of Initiating Mission. ONE MISSIONARY.
Passage money (one man) £50
Personal kit £150
Stores (food, medicines, etc. Station use) £150
Ditto (materials for house) £200
Ditto (furniture, tools, implements) £150
Porterage (of stores into the interior) £250
Labor, commissions, sundries, etc. £250
Subtotal Starting the Mission £1,200
Upkeep of Station, etc., for One Year
Labor, etc. £200
Transport £200
Food, etc. £200
Sundries £200
Total for first year £2,000
The Rev. Fred. E. Wigram, Honorary Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, London, also wrote to my husband on the eve of our departure: -
Dear Mr. Watt,
You know my opinion regarding the project you are making. I am sure of your zeal in seeking to make known the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray God to avert the catastrophe which your scheme appears to invite. If the enclosed will be of any service to you I pray you to present it. It was good of you to give me a farewell grip when you must have been so busy.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) Fred. E. Wigram.
With the above note, was enclosed the following letter: -
To J. R. W. Piggott, Esq., Secretary, Imperial British East
Africa Company, Mombasa, East Coast of Africa.
Dear Sir,
May I introduce to your kindly notice Mr. Stuart Watt, who is going on a venture which sufficiently indicates his zeal and desire to promote the spread of the Gospel. I believe him to be a resourceful, earnest, Christian man, determined at all costs to return to evangelistic work among the Africans, in which he was engaged in connection with the Church Missionary Society, of which I am honorary secretary. Your counsel and protection may be invaluable to him in the work he is now proposing to himself.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) Fred. E. Wigram.
Among other letters of counsel and advice, which came from friends of considerable experience in Missionary enterprise in the Dark Continent, was one from a faithful and honored Missionary of the Church Missionary Society, who had labored for many years at Mombasa, the point from which our expedition was about to start on its way into the interior. He wrote: -
Dear Mr. Watt,
You do not ask my opinion regarding your expedition, but I must frankly tell you I think it would be a great mistake for you to take your wife and children into such a place. What, if you were to die, is to become of them? You may say you go in faith. True! But it is written, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
I am,
Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) Harry K. Binns.
While my husband thankfully appreciated such letters, indicating the interest of friends, nothing could quench the passionate desire which was in his heart, to carry the Gospel to the unopened parts of Africa. No fear of death at the hands of the native, nor dread of falling by cruel fevers on the way, could veer him from the work which lay before him, and which he recognized as having been assigned to him by God.
Mr. Piggott of the I. B. E. A. Coy., and the Missionaries of the Church Missionary Society on the Coast, had been very kind to us while preparing for our journey, and came several times to see us in our camp. As the time was approaching for us to make a move, rifles, cartridge belts and accessories were served out to fifty of the most trustworthy of the porters; and a number of headmen were appointed to superintend the work of different sections of the caravan.
All being now ready, tents were taken down and camp bedsteads and other tent basics folded and packed. Our faithful Coast friends came and bade us their last goodbye, but could not hide from us their fears that we were going to certain death. We then read together the twenty-third Psalm, and commended ourselves and the entire caravan into the care and keeping of Almighty God. At the shrill blast of the whistle, the loads were raised on one hundred and twenty heads, and, in single file, we marched away from the Coast and plunged into the interior.