wife. We trust that our friends will often pray that this native pastor may be a great help and blessing to the work here." West Central African Mission. AFFAIRS AT BAILUNDU. A DELAYED mail from this mission reached the Missionary Rooms January 23; most of the letters were written in October last. We are sorry to have to report that Mr. and Mrs Cotton are on their way to America; Mr. Cotton having suffered so severely in health that it was a unanimous opinion of the mission that he would be unable to reside in this portion of Africa. Mr. Currie is also probably on his way to the United States for needed rest. He was detained at Benguella by sickness, from which, at last accounts, he was recovering. Mr Woodside reports that the king of Bailundu was about to go to war once more. Mr. Woodside had visited the king, who had promised him that he would not hinder any of his men from serving as carriers, but the men afterward reported that the king commanded them not to go. Mr. Woodside visited the king again, and he made very fair promises and seems to have fulfilled these promises in allowing carriers to take Mr. and Mrs. Cotton and Mr. Currie to the coast. Mr. Stover has just finished the translation into Umbundu of the Gospel of Matthew. perplexing question has arisen as to furnishing employment to the young men who wish to come to school. Mr. Stover writes: A There are many who would come if we could only give them work. We do not think it a good plan to keep them here in idleness, even if their friends were willing to support them, which is by no means the case. A few weeks ago a young man came here to attend school whose brother is one of our most bitter He has married two of the opposers. girls who were in school, and would marry the whole school, I have no doubt, if in that way he could get the girls away. The father of these young men is eligible to the throne, with strong probabilities of being the next king; but as he forms his judgment from his older son's representations, he of course is also opposed to our work. What can such a young man do? Nothing, but go the way of all the others, unless we can put him into the way of earning his living while he is in school. By the time this reaches you, you can think of the school as going on in its new home, the memorial school building. The boys are doing nearly all the work. Some of the finishing touches, such as whitewashing, etc., will have to be left for the present, as they cannot be so well done in the rainy season; but the substantial part of the building will be finished, I think I am safe in saying, in a month. "I have lately started another pair of boys at evangelistic work at the villages. That makes three groups now being visited every Sabbath by the members of the church. I meet those who go out every Saturday evening for preparation for the coming Sabbath. I hope to be able to go. out with them occasionally." AFRICAN SCENERY. Mrs. Webster, who in September visited the stations at Kamondongo and Chisamba, gives an interesting account of the scenes through which they passed on the journey to Bihé: "I will try and tell you a little about the beauty of the woods at the time we were traveling. At that season the trees and shrubs were just coming out in their fresh foliage: but it is by no means all green. There is every shade of red, green, and brown you can imagine, and flowers are everywhere. The woods look much as the woods do at home in the fall. Some of the leaves are smooth and glossy in appearance, some soft and waxy, some velvety, and some look like silk and satin. The small fine leaves at a little distance look like silk floss. But their chief beauty lies in their position; when they first come out they all droop. Now imagine, if you can, those beautiful leaves in all shades of red, green, and brown, in a drooping posi tion, swaying back and forth in the gentle breeze or tossed in the air by a strong wind, and you have an idea of what the African woods look like in springtime and how beautiful they are. It was a perfect delight to me to ride day after day through the woods and across the grassy plains and watch the changing beauty all around me. And when as night came we took our camp-chairs and sat around the campfire and enjoyed the lovely moonlight, I often found myself repeating, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge,' etc. This is a beautiful country, but amid the beauty there is so much darkness and sin! I often try to think what this country would be if it were inhabited by a Christianized and civilized people. "There is another point of interest on this journey. There is a great tract of prairie country called the Mbuluvulu, about twenty miles from Kamondongo. It is so much like Dakota prairie that could I have gone off by myself where there were no black faces around me I could easily have imagined myself back again in Dakota. At the point we crossed, it is about seven miles wide, but at some places it is fully fifteen miles wide. It took an hour and forty-five minutes to cross. That is faster than the average rate of travel the average being three miles an hour; but on the flat, level plains they travel very fast. Deer of several species and buffalo abound, though there were none to be seen the day we crossed." "On our arrival at Kamondongo we found the friends all very well. Kamondongo is nicely located on a rise of ground commanding a good view of the surrounding country. There is a good population, though not large, within easy reach of the station. At the time I came, and for several weeks, the work was interrupted on account of smallpox, which prevails all over the country. Many of the boys have never had it, and they thought best.on their account to put the village in quarantine. Now Dr. Clowe thinks the danger is past, and the village people are allowed to come back again. Yesterday several from the villages attended the morning service. The schools have opened again. The "I have been to Chisamba and spent three weeks with the friends there. station is finely located in the midst of a densely populated district. Within ten or fifteen minutes' walk of the mission compound fifteen villages can be seen. Half an hour off there are a great many more, and a little farther off still more. That part of Bihé is densely populated, and we ought to have half a dozen stations instead of one. Mr. Currie has done a great deal of work, including much building, draining, gardening, etc.; nor has the other work been neglected. They have a school of thirty boys, twelve of whom they think are truly Christian boys. Their Sunday services were largely attended. and I was pleased to see that a large proportion of them were men and women past middle life. Miss Clarke finds plenty of work to do. She has taken the boys' Taking all things into consideration we have reason to feel greatly pleased and deeply thankful at the progress made by this station. The school, under Miss Clarke's skilful management, is doing well. Our Sunday congregations more than fill the building we have to use as a church, and many have to be satisfied with crowding around the one door and solitary window. How we do wish we had means enough to build a house large enough to hold them all! But then perhaps we shall not need a larger building for some time to come, because of Mr. Currie's absence. There is almost a certainty of our having a diminished congregation after Mr. Currie goes, for I cannot address the people in anything like so interesting or instructive a style as he can., My year at the coast was almost entirely lost as far as my acquiring Umbundu went." Miss Clarke, according to the plan made when she went to the mission, has now gone on to Chisamba, and is greatly pleased with the outlook. She reports that two of the young men of Chisamba were sent to Bailundu to conduct her to that station, and that she never had more thoughtful attention given to her comfort than was given by these young Bihéans. She writes: "I cannot tell you what a hearty reception I met with from the villagers. It was too hearty, overwhelmingly so. They would crowd the house until it would hold no more. Then the people outside would request me to come outside so that they too might see me. Any conversation carried on was listened to with rapt attention, and chance remarks were greeted with cries of Ewa, ewa' (Good, good)! In compliance with a special request I unbraided my hair and showed it to them, then allowed one of the women, who looked clean and rather superior, to braid it again. But I did not forget to give them the gospel in song,' and talk to them a little, though I was too tired to say much. Even while I ate, the curious crowd watched each mouthful and commented upon every action. "I find it true, as reported, that there are here villages, villages everywhere. I have gone out a good deal to see them, with a view to starting a girls' school as soon as possible. There are grand possibilities before us for a good and extensive work in the name of our Master and Lord. Pray for us unceasingly that we may faithfully do everything that comes to hand, whether small or great." PRESIDENT FULLER writes from Aintab December 17: Mr. Wishard, Secretary of the Intercollegiate Y. M. C. A. of America, accompanied by his wife, and Mr. W. H. Grant, of Philadelphia, a member of, and specially interesting himself in, the Y. P. S. C. E., and Rev. Mr. Barton, of the Eastern Turkey Mission, who accompanied them here via Marash from Harpoot, have just been spending a week with us. The time of their stay was filled with a series of meetings, both in the college and city, which were very largely attended and awakened a very deep and hopeful interest in all forms of Christian work. Mr. Wishard gave most of his time to the two Christian Associations in the college and city. The new college schoolroom, which, still only half-furnished, was just ready to occupy, was fittingly consecrated to Bible study, prayer, and Christian work. The city Association also dedicated its new rooms, the munificent gift of a member of the Second Church. This is, as Mr. Wishard assured us, the first building in Asia Minor erected for Y. M. C. A. work. Mrs. Wishard addressed large meetings of women, and Mr. Grant assisted in the college meetings and held special meetings with the students of the city schools, in explanation of the work of the Y. P. S. C. E., two societies of which had already been formed and were in successful operation here. Mr. Barton spoke to the students of the college, and also addressed a large union meeting of the churches, specially called on Sunday noon at the First Church, in which he gave a deeply interesting account of the mission work in Koordistan, of which he has charge and to which the churches here have been regularly contributing every month ever since the great revival of three years ago. On the whole this week of meetings has been a time of great spiritual enjoyment and blessing, and gives us a strong and helpful impulse toward the special work planned for the new year." Notes from the Wide Field. AFRICA. THE NEW LOVEDALE. — In our last number we reported that Dr. Stewart and his caravan had started from Mombasa on the nineteenth of September last, and were well on their way inland. Since then, from a communication of Professor Lindsay in The Free Church of Scotland Monthly, we learn that the caravan had a most serious time in passing through the Taro desert, a waterless region northwest of Mombasa. The sufferings of the caravan from thirst were intense. Dr. Stewart writes that after two days' march through this waterless region they were alarmed at not finding a stream where one was expected. All the water they found was two half-calabashes, not fit to wash a home floor with, swarming with tadpoles an inch long. The next day at eleven o'clock they secured enough to give each man half a teacup full, and at two o'clock enough more to give nearly a quart to each man. On the ninth of October the caravan reached the river Tzaro, 130 miles northwest from Mombasa, where they found a flowing stream, which was "a glorious sight." The course of the march was changed somewhat, passing along the Sabaki River to the Kibwezi River. Here Kilundu was the chief man, and here it was decided to establish the station where the New Lovedale shall be built. Dr. Stewart writes October 28: "We have got 250 trees cut for posts." The population is not dense, but the site is believed to be healthy and easy of access. The position is east of north from Kilima-Njaro, the peak of which, covered with snow, can be seen from Kilundu's. THE ATROCITIES OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. At the recent meeting of the African Society at Cologne details were given of frightful cruelties in connection with marauding expeditions in Marunji and Kizabi in which numberless victims were slain. Attempts were made to march the captives to Kirando, and on the way great numbers of old women and children were drowned. The haste in which the march was made led to the complete exhaustion of many who formed a part of the caravan, and twenty or thirty, and sometimes even fifty, were daily killed. But in spite of all this it is said that 2,000 slaves arrived at Kirando in one day. THE FRENCH MISSION ON THE ZAMBESI. - The Sefula station of the Zambesi Mission was in great danger and trial at the last dates. Under date of June 16, 1891, M. Coillard wrote the Journal des Missions-Evangéliques: "Recent events confirm me in the conviction that the treaty made last year with the South Africa Company was the plank of safety, as much for the nation as for the chief, Lewanika, himself. But to-day we are alone in our opinion. Our adversaries, who pose as champions and saviors of their nation, represent things very differently. Insinuations, false light thrown upon facts, and calumnies have found in the suspicious, excitable, and vindictive nature of our poor Barotses a fertile soil. The king understands me; he is incapable of doing me the least harm, but he is still more incapable of protecting me. He trembles for himself. . . . There has existed for some time a spirit of discontent which bodes no good. Lewanika knows it, but that does not hinder his doing everything to irritate instead of conciliate his people. These days all our neighborhood is in confusion. A panic has seized everybody and the villages are deserted. They strangle men by wholesale not so as to cause death but a prolonged fainting-fit of the victim." July 27, M. Coillard adds: One would say we have lost ground. Lewanika is not always amiable even with us, and we need a great deal of prudence and charity in order to maintain a good understanding between us." But the brave missionary closes with the words: "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." DEATH OF THE BASUTO KING. - News has recently reached Paris of the death, on the twentieth of November, 1891, of Letsie, the great chief of Basutoland, at the age of eighty-three. He was the son of the chief, Moshesh, and was sent by his father in 1833 to the frontiers of his country to receive the pioneer missionaries of the French Protestant Church. He has thus been for fifty-eight years familiar with those noble men who have taught and lived the gospel among the Basutos. But he has never yielded to its call. Duplicity and selfishness characterized his political life, and his private life was an incarnation of paganism. The number of his wives was legion; they were reckoned by the hundreds; and up to the last he was always adding to the list. When sick, Letsie had times of remorse, of good resolutions, and of sobriety, but with returning health he again plunged into his former excesses. M. Dieterlen, one of the French mission, writes that, "whether in consequence of his habitual unbelief or from annoyance at the solicitations of those who were not his missionaries" (Roman Catholics and English churchmen who came to seek his conversion), he did not in his last days "pronounce the words of repentance and faith. Sometimes he reassured himself by saying that he had welcomed the first missionaries and had never abandoned them, and wept while he declared that it was his sins, especially polygamy, which had hardened him and kept out the grace of God." And on the day of his death when M. Mabille told him that there was yet pardon if he would ask it of God with humility and faith, "he answered by a prolonged pressure of the hand, the only way that remained to him of expressing the feelings of his heart." His eldest son, Lerotholi, succeeds him as supreme chief; but some of the family refuse to submit to his authority, and civil war may result. A SERIOUS REVERSE IN NYASALAND. The British Commissioner in Central Africa, Mr. H. H. Johnston, in command of the forces employed in suppressing the slave-trade on both sides of the lake, after a series of successful engagements with the slave-traders, met a serious reverse, in which Captain Maguire, of the African Lakes Company's steamer Domira, with some of his men, was drowned. Two of Makanjira's dhows had been destroyed and a large slave caravan had been prevented from crossing the lake. After the captain's death Makanjira's people proposed peace, and, deceived by this promise, the chief engineer of the Domira and some of his men went on shore and were immediately killed. These facts indicate the seriousness of the conflict which is going on between the British forces and the slave-traders. But reinforcements are on their way from gunboats on the Shiré, and the success of the efforts to check the traffic cannot be doubted. MASHONALAND. — Bishop Knight-Bruce, of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, reports a thorough exploration of the accessible parts of Mashonaland. He says that, with one notable expedition, there are few chiefs now in all the region who have not a Christian teacher near them or have not definitely accepted the offer of one to come. He speaks of six bases from which mission work is being done, the chiefs throughout the whole region being most friendly. The central station of the mission will be at Umtali, chosen on account of its healthfulness and its being near to |