A VISIT TO BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA.
By W. S. Hyatt
JUNE 26, 1904, I left the mission farm for Cholo, British Central Africa. I stopped on the way at Somabula Mission, near Gwelo. I left all well at the mission farm, and the work prospering. I did not want to leave there, as I was very much interested in the education of the young men at the station. I have great hopes of the twelve or fifteen young teachers there, and of others who are developing into teachers. My hope for translators into the Zulu language is in these young men, and from that school I hope to see the Gospel carried all over that section of the country. At these two missions there are young people who represent several tribes. Some of these are from near Lake Nyassa, and others speak the language north of the Zambesi. Our board believes that these young men should have a good, liberal education, and be able to read and speak the English. Then when they are sent out to teach, we can place our good books in their hands to read, and they can be filled with the spirit of the message. Some say, "O, I do want to learn English, so that I can read the words of God's prophet." We believe that they should have this privilege. These young men will be the foundation of the workmen who build up the work. Brother Armitage sent four of his boys over to the mission farm to receive the training we could give them there. The work at Somabula is getting along nicely. Brother Armitage has purchased cows, goats, and fowls with his own money, and with these he is able to support the mission. His fowls have nearly, or quite, done this during the first six months of this year. July 4 Brother Armitage and I started for Gwelo with his team of eight donkeys. We arrived in town on Wednesday morning, and I expected to get a train out the following morning. But the time of the trains had changed the first of the month, and I could not get one till the evening after the Sabbath. Rates at the hotels are very high, so Brother Armitage decided that he would walk home and leave his wagon there, and I could camp in it till I left. I did so, and was very comfortable, as I had plenty of bedding and food. Saturday evening, July 9, I took the train for Beira, arrived there Monday evening, and at once went aboard the ship for Chinde. As the tide was out, we could not get over the bar till the next day, so this detained us one day. Wednesday morning we arrived at the Chinde bar, and waited all day for the tug to come out for us. It came just at dark. We were soon aboard the tug, which pulled out from the vessel and there cast anchor for the night. It was dark, and the bar was so rough that the captain would not attempt to cross till daylight. Like Paul, we wished for day. The tug rolled and pitched all night, and we were sick. The next morning we arrived in the mouth of the Zambesi safely, for which we thanked the Lord. That afternoon I boarded the river steamer and started for Chiromo. The water was low, and we were nine days making the trip that takes but four days when the water is good. But I spent the time reading and studying, and I enjoyed it very much. I arrived in Chiromo Sabbath afternoon, July 22, and the steamboat company took me to their buildings, and kept me for the night. The next morning they furnished me a machila team of sixteen men, and I started for the mission. The distance is nearly fifty miles. That evening at seven o'clock the boys brought me to a house which I soon learned was the Nyassa Industrial Mission, which is about six miles from our station. As the boys were tired, I remained for the night, and the next morning I was off again, and arrived in time for breakfast. I was glad to get there, as it had been just three weeks since I left the Somabula mission. Brother and Sister Branch gave me a hearty welcome, and did all they could to make my visit pleasant and profitable. I found them all well, but subject to light attacks of the fever from time to time. This section is from three to four thousand feet above the sea. There is a mountain to climb to get here, and I do not know that I would ever have been able to climb it if it had not been for the boys, who assisted me. The country is hilly, and covered with trees. The soil is generally good, much better than in Matabeleland. Last rainy season they had a rainfall of fifty inches. Since I came we have had a two days' rain. The fields are covered with grass from eight to ten feet high, and this is very good for the cattle. They eat the leaves, and are fat. Corn did quite well. It grew very rank and tall. Brother Branch was told that he had about two hundred acres planted; but when he and I measured it, we found that there were but about eighty acres of corn, and ten acres of cotton and garden. But when all of this work has to be done with the hoe, from start to finish, it means a great deal of work to dig and plant and care for ninety acres. The corn yielded about twenty bushels to the acre. The natives planted it very thin, and there ought to have been as many more hills as they put in, which would have given a good yield. The corn, or chimanga, as they call it here, was sold for $20 per ton; and then it has to be delivered, which costs about six dollars per ton. This is the long ton of 2,240 pounds. So you can see there is not much profit in growing corn. The cotton has brought nothing so far, and there is but little prospect that it will. Many people have gone into the cotton industry, but as far as I can learn, they say that it hardly pays expenses. The country is too high. It is believed that they can grow it successfully on the lowlands. Brother Branch has a good garden. It is so situated that it can be irrigated, if need be, and the soil is good. Chiromo is his market, and altho it is a long way, he is able to sell some garden truck there, which brings in a few shillings. It costs one shilling to send a man there with a load. He hopes to make the garden a paying factor of the mission. To-day some persons sent a long distance to get ten shillings worth of vegetables from his garden. One of the schoolboys is the gardener. A railroad is being built in this section, and this, he hopes, will make a market for the garden. Thus far he has been able to sell all he could raise. I learn that the government has parceled out all of Northern Rhodesia to various mission societies. Missionaries are looking for more locations for missions. I think that we will be obliged to take possession of the grant in Barotseland. The location is too good to lose. This is truly a land of death. A short time ago a missionary returned to Africa, and brought his wife with him. She took the fever, and died before they could get up to the mission. Another lady—a missionary nurse—who had been here for about one year, also took the fever, and died about the same time. Black water is quite bad about here. My hope for the future of this work is that we train a few faithful boys to bear the message to their people. If we took the twelve apostles out of the work of Christ, it seems to me that the greater portion of His life work would be gone. Just so with our missions. If we are successful in training young men for the work, the giving of the message to the people is assured us.