"I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding jo tul in all our tribulation. For, when we were come into Mace onia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus." -St. Paul.

"That the tide will turn I believe and now. The sun will rise to-morrow morning. How do we know? By no great process of faith or reason. It has always done so. History repeats itself; rather the calm and regular working of God goes on with the same unerring grandeur in both worlds, the natural and the spiritual. We shall not hasten the sunrise by rushing eastward to help it-the chances are that we shall stumble in the dark. When the light begins to dawn we can see where we are going, and can rightly recognise the lay of the land." -A. M. Mackay.

THE

CHAPTER VIII.

THE TIDE EBBS AND FLOWS

HE Mission being utterly without supplies, Mackay proceeds to Uyui1 for barter goods, and writes home a graphic review of the situation. On his return to Uganda, the missionaries went on quietly teaching a few lads who came to them, despite atrocious charges brought against Mackay by the Arabs. They said he was an insane murderer who had escaped from England, and for a time put his life in imminent danger.

In March, 1881, the Rev. P. O'Flaherty arrived, and his knowledge of the Koran and readiness of wit gave him a great advantage with the Arabs at court, and he soon became popular with Mtesa. In the following March several baptisms took place, and in May, 1883, the Mission was still further strengthened by the arrival of the Rev. R. P. Ashe. TO HIS FATHER:

"UYUI, CENTRAL AFRICA,

"14th June, 1880.

"I came down here, as our supplies were quite ex

To do this he had to cross the lake, and then make a three weeks' journey in a southerly direction by land.

hausted in Uganda. Happily, I have got here a few loads of cowrie shells, and a little calico. That I am packing up, and (D.V.) in ten days or so I hoist my flag and march back for the lake and Ugandato return-when? I left Pearson alone with Mtesa, and I must hurry back to join him, and to my work there. 'Duty before pleasure,' they say. But my duty is a pleasure, great and serious as the drawbacks connected with it are. Buganda (that is the correct name as the natives say, although the coast men call it Uganda) is a fair land, rich in hills and dales, banana trees and palms of many kinds besides; but while 'every prospect pleases,' there, too, 'man alone is vile.'

"Because under the favourable conditions of one strong central government the Baganda have in many generations of peace had time to make a little advance in civilization beyond their black brothers everywhere round about them-these being ever retarded by internal factions and fear of annihilationthey have educated themselves to believe that their country is the most glorious in all the world, and that they themselves are the most civilized and enlightened race of men existing. In fact, in the eyes of every Muganda the axis of the earth sticks visibly out through the roof of the conical hut of their king, or as they call him, Kabáka. More than once this very Kabáka has asked me if there is any other power in the world equal to his! No one saying that there exists even one kingdom greater

CONCEIT OF THE 3AGANDA.

215

than that of Mtesa would be listened to for a moment at the court of Uganda.

"Hence you will understand that in such a land where a despot reigns, with nobles of his own creating-men who are entirely at the mercy of their sovereign, for it has been the use and wont of the king to set up one to-day and set him down tomorrow-men who have never travelled beyond the confines of their own country, except when they are sent to make a raid on their more feeble neighbours-it is just in such a soil where the grossest forms of vice and superstition spring up and grow to maturity. A feeling of superiority to all beside, to foreigners-Arabs and white men alike-has produced an amount of pride and self-conceit more ridiculous than the same in China. Every form of lasciviousness and lust, laziness, greed, falsehood, hatred, and murder, not only exist as common sins, but are rejoiced in by the court and the nation. The only religion is witchcraft, which is itself a system of deception, the head witch of all being believed to be the incarnation of the great evil spirit they call the lubare, and whom they worship as the ruler of heaven and earth, of land and sea.

"Some have blamed Mr. Stanley for giving far too glowing an account of Mtesa and the kingdom which he rules over. The French priests are especially ever loud in their denunciations of that traveller for writing, on the strength of very limited acquaintance with the country, what they call utter falsehoods,

whereby all Europe has been deceived. But I cannot blame Stanley. He and Speke, and every traveller, resided only a few months, at most, at Mtesa's court. They had opportunity of seeing only the outside, and that in many respects is fair enough. Entering the country from the side of Zanzibar, one certainly is struck with not a little admiration at the advance which the Baganda have made in civilization over all the tribes between the coast and them. Suez, Jeddah, Aden, and Zanzibar, apart from the Arab element, which at best is only barbarous-not savage, but certainly not civilized-exhibit only a populace remarkable for their squalid condition of filth and poverty, if remarkable for anything. Then, among the tribes one passes through all the way inland, the traveller meets with only petty sultanships, each at war with the other, and each therefore low down in the scale of humanity, as each lives on from day to day merely struggling for existence. This is all one sees in Usagara, Uzaramo, Ugogo, and Unyamwesi. In Uganda the scene is changed. There one power rules, absolute, yet with certain ideas of propriety and desires for improvement. The king must have the best of everything, and receives a homage amounting to little short of worship. At his court Arabs have lived for more generations than one. The respect shown to visitors has enticed many of them to come and see the vain, conceited king. Strangers have been treated well on a short visit, not from any love to them, but that they may go