UG AN D A

’
S WHITE M AN OF W O RK
 E dit d U nder th D i ti n f
e e re c o O

T HE YO UNG P OPL S M I SS ION AR Y M

E E
’
O V EM EN T

U G AN D A S
’

W HIT E M AN O F W O R K
A Story Of Alexander M M a ckay .

S O PHI A LY O N F AHS
WI T H IN T ROD U CT IO N
B Y PRO FESS O R F . M MCMUR R Y
.

Y O UN G PE O PLE S ’
MI SSIO N A R Y M O V EMENT
N EW Y O RK
 CO PYRIGH T 1 9 0 7, BY

YO UNG PEO P LE S M I SS I O NARY MOV EM EN T

’
 T O T HE B O Y S AN D G I R LS

W HO DELI G HT IN T R UE S T OR I ES O F PE O PLE

AN D WHO M AY C OM E T O R EGARD T HE W H I T E M AN
W O R K AS O N E O F T HE R EAL H ERO ES OF

T H EI R AC QUAI N T AN CE
 C O N T EN T S

C H AP T R
E

I N T O U C TIO N
R D

PR AC
EF E

P R O NUN C IA T I O N UG A N D A WOR D S
OF

A N W S PAP R M AN S I N T R W WIT H A BLA C K

’
E E E V IE

KING 1

II W HA T HAPP N AF T R H N WS WA R A
E ED E T E 22 E S E D

II I JUNG LE RO A S O x C A T S A N D F L B I T S
D ,
-
R , 49 Y E

IV T WO R C P T ION S A T H RO Y AL P ALA C
E E T E 70 E

W HIT M A B LA C K M B C O M A C Q U AI N T
E EN ND EN 89 E E ED

V I T H KING A
E H W I AR D
ND T E Z 111

V II T H T WO F A C
E -
MU A AN D
ED H M OH A M M
T ES AN S 1 3 5 T E ED

V I II T H N W TEA C HING MA K S N W M
E E E 1 54
E EN

IX MAC K AY S Q U R N W N A M
’
EE E 1 70
E

T HR B OY H RO S AN D O
EE E E B O Y T YRAN T NE1 95

XI S T UR Y B LA C K C HRI S T IAN S W I T H N R
D 219 E VE

XI I T H W HI T M AN O F W OR K L AY S D O W N H
E E T O OL S 2 5 0 IS

P OS TLU DE D . I T PAY ?ID 2 71

28 1
 I LLU S T RA T I O N S

UGAND A S WHI TE M AN O F WOR K

’

M AP MA C K AY S P RIN C I PAL JOUR NE Y S

,
’

S T ANLE Y T ELL S T H E M O F T HE W HI TE M AN S G O D
’

T HE P RO CE SS ION F ILE S O UT O F T HE V ILLAGE

P ULLING T HE CAR T B ARG E AC RO SS T HE R IV E R
-

O FF I C ER S O F T HE KING C A M E T O E S C OR T T H E M T o
T HE P ALA C E
”

T HE M ARV EL S O F T HE M AGI C L AN T ERN

T HE G RE A T W I Z ARD O F T HE L A K E I S AB O U T T O V I S I T
T HE ING K ”

CO M T O P RAY R S ! CO M T O S AL AT IO N !
E E
”
E V

T H C H F T A C HING HI S WI S ”
E IE E V E

H CU T S IRON LI K T HR AD !
E E E
”

P AR T O F H C RO W D B ROUGH T F R WOO
T E I E- D

T LL H KING T HA T 1 D F O R UGAN A
E T E IE D

T AL K ING T HU S W EN T R H C IR C L, O F T ALL E E ED T E E

P OL S E

LO A D A FT R LO A O F O FF I NG S CA M T HRO UGH
E D ER E

H D OO R S
T E
 I N TRO D U C T IO N

I t has long seemed s trange t o me tha t the

history o f the attempts to spread the go sp el
over the world during the last eighteen hun
dred years has no t cons t itut ed a very im
portant part o f t he religious inst ru ction and
study o f young people in our Sunday
schools The history of the United States
.

has been extensively used fo r t he develop

ment o f a p atriotic feeling t oward ou r cou n
try and religious history mi ght s imil arly be
,

used for t he development o f faith in God .

The value o f religious h istory fo r this pur

pose lies largely in its great abundance o f
detail and its consequent c oncre t eness for
,

young minds The theory o f a Christian

.

life is not present ed in the abs t ra ct but is

,

seen in conn ect ion With actual persons oft en

,

in thril ling situations and t he exhibition of

,

unbounded personal faith in G o d on t he p ar t

ix
 I N TROD UCT I ON
of mi ssionaries excites the admir a t ion of
C hildren , thereby instilling in their mi nds a

tendency toward similar faith .

D uring very recent years some app recia

tion o f this kind o f subj ec t matter for the
-

purp ose o f religious education has mani

fested itself a s is W itnessed by the p O pu lari
,

ty o f the autobiography o f John G Paton .

,

missionary t o the natives o f the N ew Heb

rides Islands I t has been very success
.

fully used as a t ext book in Sunday school

— -

by boys and girls from nine t o twelve years

o f age and the p ossible effec t is suggested
,

by the fact that in one case at leas t the chil

, ,

dren studying it formed themselves into a

missionary societ y, fo r the raising o f funds
fo r mission work and raised a cons iderable
,

s u m o f money for tha t p urpose .

Text books f or religious ins tru ction o f

-

young peo p le are sadl y needed I t seems .

o dd that t ex t books o n all s ubj ects in the

-

day school are so rea di ly p urchased and s o

-

exclusively used there while they are a l

,

mos t want in g in t he Sunday s c h o ol Y e t a

-
.

X
 I N T ROD U C TI ON
o e hour
n -
p er week course o f study such —

as is found in the Sunday school is just - —

the kin d that is in pecul iar need o f a good

text N othing o f much value can be a ecom
.

p lis h ed anywhere W ithout work and mos t ,

o f the work connected W ith Sunday schools -

must be ac c omp lished outside since the ,

period there is itself s o very short It is

, , .

extremely diffi cult however, without books

,

to assign t asks tha t will be earnestly under

taken by chil dren But the interesting .

story such as that o f Pat on s life comes in

,
’
,

to fill this need and meets it a dmirably

,
.

T w o o r three o r four chap t ers in such a book

can be assigned for outside reading each
Sunday and the period in Sunday school it
,
-

self can be sp ent in talking over the events

described Provided the text is g o o d chi l
.
,

dren can b e induced to work in this way .

An d this use o f a t ex t instead o f supplant ,

ing the Bible merely furnishes a concrete

,

introduction t o it the events presented c o n

,

tinu ally culm inating in reference to certain

V erses in t he Bible whi ch become interes t ing
,

xi
 I N T ROD UCTI ON
to children owing t o such connection and
can accordingly be memorized with profit .

The Sunday school in that it has not long

-
,

ago generally adopted thi s method o f ap ~

p r o a c hing abstract ideas , is f ar behind the

day school in development , and it is hi gh
-

time that p sychological principles o f educa

tion that are W ell established in secular ed
u c a tio n find ful l a pp recia t ion in religious

teaching .

W ith these thought s in mind Mrs F ahs .

has undertaken the preparation of Ug a n

da s W hite M an of W o rk
’
She is a woman.

who is eminently fitted fo r this task both ,

in native abi lity in general training in

, ,

religious interest and in special training in

,

p edagogical study I have read the work

.

carefully and am convinced that it has been

admi rably executed and I feel like c o ngrat
,

ul ating both her and the children at large

for her efforts in this direction .

I hope tha t the book will be ext ensively

used not s imply by teachers but by children
, ,

t hemselves I feel little pat ience , t oo , with

.

xi i
 I N T ROD UCTI ON
the complaint that parents cannot afford the
money necessary for the purchase of texts ,

for S un day s ch o o l u s e o r for the study o f

-

religious history at home Parents readily

.

S pend money for the purchase o f geog

ra p hies a nd S p ell ers and other books and ,

if they hesitate to S pend it for religious

works for their childr en it is usually b e
,

cause religious instruction has been so fo r

mal s o regar dl ess o f the principles o f teach
,

ing as to become lifeless and therefore

,

unworthy of support But I am confident

.
,

that parents will respond readily enough ,

the moment a thoroughl y prog essive spirit r

is shown in this field and the question is

handled just as similar questions in the dav
school are handled .

F M M C M URRY
. .

T eachers College Columbia University

, .

F ebruary 1 5 1 90 7
,
.

xiii
 PR EF ACE
l

Ug anda
’
s White M an o f W o rk has b een
written p rimarily f or boys and girls be tween
the ages o f t en and fift een Al though it is .

intended t o b e use d as a t ex t book by Sun -

day school c lasses , junior so c iet ies and mis

-
,

sion c irc les , it is ho p ed tha t t he t erm text

book will no t c arry w ith i t t he thought o f
cramming the mind wit h fa ct s about mis
’

s io nary work T he bo ok is firs t o f all a

.

story whi c h i t is hoped b oys and girls w ill

be interested in Readin g .

The initial en c ouragemen t t o writ e such

a book came from t wo men the one an ed ,

u c a tio nal
, the o ther a missionary leader .

A t Columbia University under the super

'
,

vision o f D r F M McMu rry, head of the

. . .

departmen t of Primary Education in

’
Teachers College a Master s thesis w a s
,
“
written o n the subj ect Missionary Biog
rap h as Sup p lementary to Biblical Mate
y
XV .
 P RE FA C E
rial for the Sunday School Curriculum .

A s a result o f this study the conviction was

formed tha t while such biographies provide
most promising mat erial f or Sunday school -

use ye t b ut few as yet have been written in

,

a form p ecul iarly adapted t o in t erest boys

and girls At thi s j uncture D r T H P
. . . . .

S ailer Educational Secretary of the Board

,

o f F oreign Missions o f t he Presbyterian

Church in the U S A added his influence

. . .
,

to lead the au thor t o att empt a c oncrete

illustration o f the t hesis .

F or further en c ouragement , f or a multi

tude of suggestions , and for c rit icism o f the
manuscript the author is indebted to many
,

others o f whom Prof John W H all head

, . .
,

o f the department o f Elemen t ary Education

o f the University o f Cincinnati , and the

R ev E M orris F ergusson General Secre

. .
,

tary o f the N ew Jersey Sunday S chool As

sociation should have s p ecial mention
, .

The material for the story has been taken

from the two lives o f Mackay written by his
S ister from letters fou nd in the numbers
,

XV I
 PR O N UN CI AT I O N O F UGAN D A WO R D S
T h words h a e no a c cent ; th
e yllables are gi en in th is list
v e s v .

N umber following word give page where wor d fi rst o cc ur

, , s s.

a- li d e 2 00
-
,
K l ma 2 5 6 a - e- ,

A p lo Kag w
-
O- 237 k ti 5 5 -
a, a- ,

K ti ki 17 a— - -
ro ,

b gag w
a- 230 -
K n ta 1 7
a, a -
,

B g mo y
a- a- 36 k -
i 171
o, a -z ,

B li k dem b
a- -
u— Ki d 2 1 4 -
e, -
2 a,

b 80
a— ra -z a , kil la 2 1 5 -
,
‘

B zun g
a- 1 29 -
Kim b g w
u, 1 87 -
u -
a, ,

bwa na 4 0 -
, Kin t 1 6 -
u,

kub w 5 7 -
a,

C h a m b ran g 16 -
Ky m b lan g
a- -
o, -
a -
a- -
o,

da la 9 4
-
,
ln b 94 -
a -re,
D m li 156
Ln g la ma 2 1 3
u- u- -
t a,
- -
a- ,

Ln g n da 8 1 —
a -
,
G b ng 1 26
Ln kon g 7 2
a -
u -
a,
- -
e,

h on ga 44 ’

M si y
,

2 15 a- -
a,

I -
sa, 16 mba-ya 5 5 ,

M en go 2 0 7
-
,

Kar d -
u- ma , 7 2 mi -
la
lu 1 4 1 -
,

Ka ge-i 8 4 -
, Mi ram
-
-
b o 23 1 ,

Ka -ge-ye ! same pl c
a e as Ka mi- ti
55 ,

g i
) , 72
e-
M pw a pw a 42 -
,

Ka ku m b a, 2 1 3
- -
M su -la-la , 20 5

m u
 UGANDA WORD S
M u f- ta
71 , S am-we - li , 2 44
M u -j a -S i 2 0 4 , Seb -w a -to , 2 1 3
M u ka -Sa , 1 1 1
v
Sem b 1 55
-
e-ra ,

M u -sa 1 6 , Se wan g 2 12
-
ru - -
a,

te
M u -s a 4
—
,
si k 2 1 5
-
u,

M u-zun -
gu 5 5 ,
S on g 72
-
o -ro ,

M wan dan g wa
- -
,

M wan ga , 2 0 0
-
tu -
u -S i-fu , 2 15
M wi-ra , 1 6 7
U- gan d a -
, 4
N a -ln-ma - si , 2 28 U-gO -g o , 4 3
N a- ma -
s o -le, 1 79 U-ke re w e, 7 2- -

Na- mi -
re m be, 2 7 4
—
U- la y -
a, 55
nj i-a , 5 7 Un-ya n y em-b e, 1 4 1 —

N u -a , 2 3 2 U-S a m-bi-ro , 2 5 8
ny-a n-z ig, 79 U -
S O -g a , 202
U -
eu -ku - ma , 1 2 0
pom b -
e, 12 U-yu -i, 1 3 6
pos h
-
o, 41
Wa ga n da
- -
, 8
R u -ba -ga , 7 3
R u -sa ka, 1 8 2
—
 U G AND A S
’

W HIT E MAN O F W O R K
C H AP T E R I
N E W S P A P ER I N T E RV IE W WITH
’
A M AN S A
B LAC K KI N G

I
T w as a N ovemb er morning in 1 8 7 5 .

The L ondon newsboys were selling u n

usually large numbers o f the D a ily T ele
g ra p h Enough it was for the lads to cry
.
,
”
L atest news from Stanley and every o ne ,

wanted a copy .

Mr Stanley had written th e story o f his

.

adventures in A frica the black man s land

,
’
.

D ow n under the equ ato r where the weather

f

is to o hot to be talked about he w a s eXp lo r ,

ing a lake nam ed fo r Queen Victoria

'

To reach this place the traveler and his

men had marched through many regions
where the native savages had never seen the
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
face o f a White man W ithin sound o f the
.

roaring of lions and the cries o f leopards

and hyenas , they had c u t their trails
through thick A frican j ungles Their .

course had led them to face drenching rains

and the s c orching rays of the tropical su n .

A gain for days they had plodded along over

parched deserts in search o f water A t .

other times they waded more than kne e

deep through miry swamps steaming with
heat More than once Mr Stanley and
. .

many of his men had been forced to lie in

their tents helpless and burning with fever .

Is it strange that a letter from such a corre

sp o ndent was hailed with enthusiasm in

L ondon ?
But who had brought the letter all the
w ay to L ondon from Stanley in the heart
o f A frica 2 N o t a post o ffi ce o r mail car
°
- -
.

rier was to be found within a thousand

miles o f where Stanley was The black .

men had no railroads o r mail coaches o r

,
-

even roads over which a coach might be

p ulled L ittle wonder then that the letter
.

2
 I N T E RVI E W W IT H A B LA C K K I N G

was seven months Old when it appeared in

the morning newspaper W hen o ne t hinks .

of the way it came the marvel is that it ever

,

reached England at all .

It is the story o f a pair of boot s A .

young F renchm an happening to be with

,

Mr Stanley at the time wished to return to

.
,

Europe Gladly taking the letter wit h him

.
,

he and his caravan started on their home

ward j ourney M arching northward along
.

the bank of the R iver N il e one day they ,

were suddenly a ttacked by a band o f savage

t ribesmen The F renchm an was killed and
.

his corpse was heartlessly left lying nu

buried o n the sand L ater some English
.

soldiers passing by discovered the dead

body H idden in o ne o f the boot s they
.
,

found Mr Stanley s le tter They quickly

.
’
.

for w arded it to the English General in

Egypt and from there it was sent to the
newspaper o ffi ce in L ondon W as it by .

mere chance that the letter was p res erved z ’

.

S ome wh o read the rest of the story may

th ink tha t p erhap s the Great F ather who
3
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

loves both black and white people had some

thing to do with it .

But what had Mr Stanley written in this

.

letter which all were so eager to read ? A

message very different from any he had
ever sent home before yes very different
—

too from that which any o ne had expected

from him H ad he been a missionary his
.
,

letter would no t have proved s o surprising .

But Mr Stanley was an explorer and news

.

paper correspondent Indeed many in

.
,

England did no t know that he even called

himself a Christian Imagine then h o w
.
, ,

they felt when they found that p ar t of the

letter read something like this
K ing Mu tes a of Uganda has been ask
ing me about the white man s God Al ’
.

though I had not expec t ed turning a mis

s io nary
,
for days I have been t elling this
black king all the Bible stories I know S o .

enthusiastic has he become that already he

has determined t o observe the Christian
S abbath as well as the Mohammedan S ab
bath , and all hi s grea t capt ains have con
4
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

and will rep ay its cost tenfold with ivory,

coffee otter skins of a very fine quali ty or
, ,

even in cattle for the wealth o f this co untry

,
”
in these products is imm ense .

It was no t till some time lat er tha t Mr .

Stanley told all the marvelous t ale N O.

o ne who heard it wondered any more that

he had asked for missionaries to go to

Uganda This is how the story ran
.

W ith his large company o f followers he ,

had begun the voyage northward on Victoria

L ake toward Uganda . O ne clear morning
they S pied o n the far horizon a fleet o f
canoes coming t oward them A s the canoes
.

approached the white men caught sight o f

,

A frican oarsmen aboard better dressed than

any other negroes t hey had seen in all their
j ourney .

The black sailor s haile d t he whit e cap

t ain and when they were near enough to
,

talk with each other they told him o f a

,

strange dream the mother of their king had

dreamed tw o nights before She thought
.

She saw on the lake a beau t iful v ess el hav

n

6
 I N T E R VI E W W IT H A B LA C K KI N G

ing Whi te wings like a bird O n board w as .

a white man with wonderful large eyes and ,

long black hair The king o n hearing the

.
,

dream had sent these men to find the White

,

man and to invite him t o his court Mr . .

Stanl ey coul d no t do other than respond

favorably t o this royal invitation and as ,

soon as possible he followed his new guides

to the northern shore o f the lake W here ,

lay t heir home coun t ry the kingdom o f ,

Uganda .

A great surprise w as in s t ore fo r him

when he landed O n the beach stood tw o
.

thousand p eople marshaled in tw o long

p arallel l ines N oisy salutes from numer
.

o u s g uns t he waving of bright colored flags

,
-
,

the beating of tom toms and the blaring o f

-
,

trumpet s all combined to express their glad

,

welcome S O many A fricans all neatly

.

clad in long white robes w ith their chiefs ,

arrayed in rich scarle t gowns made a Spec ,

tacle new t o M r Stanley O n his w ay to

. .

Uganda he had passed through the c oun

,

tries of twenty or more Afri c an t rib es , but

7
. .
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

the people were all savages wearing little ,

or nothing o ne could call clothes These .

W aganda !for tha t is the name of the p eo

ple o f Uganda ) , however seemed t o h im ,

highly civilized .

The strange whit e gues t was t aken t o

the tent which had been made ready for his
coming S oon a herd o f oxen was driven
.

into the courtyard in front o f t he t ent and ,

then a number of goats and sheep O n the .

ground a hundred bunches of bananas we re

piled By them was laid a queer heap o f
.

eatables including t hree dozen chickens

, ,

four wooden dishes of milk four baskets o f ,

sweet p otatoes fifty ears of green Indian

,

corn a basket o f rice twenty dozen eggs

, , ,

and ten pot s of Uganda wi ne a most gen —

ero u s gift from t he king who m t he s t ranger

had not yet seen .

W hen the day came f or the whit e man

to visit the king s court Mr S tanley with
’
, .

his large company marched along a broad ,

well bu il t road lea di ng to the top O f a hill ,

-

where stood a high dome shap ed hut built

,
-

8
 I N T E R VI E W W IT H A B LA C K K I N G

of reed grass In the doorway of this royal

.

palace stood the tall S lender fi gure of King ,

M u tes a H is rich red costume with gold

.
,

embroidery was very becoming to his grace

ful broad shoul dered figure and handsome
,
-

face In hi s t alk with Mr Stanley he .

,

showed him self bright and eager to learn

all that he could to increase the greatness of
his realm which w as already no small king
,

dom .

Most A frican nations were small t ribes

of a few hundred o r t housand people and ,

most s o called A frican kings were Chiefs

-

over a small group o f A frican villages .

The kingdom o f Uganda was a most nota

ble exception H ere was a country as large
.

as the N ew England S t ates with four mil ,

lion people all rul ed by one powerful m o n

,

arch N or did he rule in the fa Sh on o f most

.

A frican chiefs H is H ouse o f L ords met

.

daily in his palace f or counsel These were .

hi s great chiefs or earls who ruled his prov ,

inces H e had also hi s prime minister his

.
,

ch ief judge his c ommander in c hie f for the

,
- -

9
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

large army o f black soldiers and his grand ,

admiral fo r the navy o f canoes To the .

white man M u tesa seemed like some great

,

C aesar o f A frica .

Mr Stanley, whi le s till a lad had t old

.
,

some of his boy friends that when he b e

came a man he was going to be a mission
ary This resolve of his boyhood days
.
,

however had slipped from his mind as he

,

became older N ow in Uganda where he

.
,

was talking daily With this great A frican

king there c ame back t o him the longing
,

he had when a boy and he wished to know

,
“
how to be a mi ssionary I f D avid L iving
.

stone were only alive and here in Uganda ,

“
he thought to himself what a wonderful ,

work he woul d do F or should king Mu tes a

.

and his millions of subj ects become Chris

tians they in turn woul d make the best kind
o f missionaries to the savage tribes all about
”
them .

But Mu tes a and his people were heathen .

This does not mean that they worshiped

id o ls ; f or had one searched throu gh o ut the
10
 I N T E R VI E W W IT H A B LA C K K I N G

whole country O f Uganda he probably ,

would not have found a single image H e .

would have seen however here and there

, ,

along the roadside usually under the shade

,

of some tree or on the to p o f a mountain lit ,

tle huts so small he might have thought they

were playhouses for the little Uganda chil
dren ; but they were used fo r a very differ
ent purpose T o these tiny grass huts the
.

W aganda wen t to sacrifice .

They believed there was a great god who

many hundred years ago created the whole
world ; but S ince men had become very
,

wicke d this god grew angry and would have

,

nothing more to do with the world It w as .

no use therefore to p ray to him for h e ,

would never listen Instead they w o r

.
,

s h ip ed difl erent kinds o f evil S pirits These .

S pirits lived in trees o r o n the mountains

, ,

o r o n the lake o r sometimes even in per

,

sons ; and the W aganda t hought they woul d

do much harm unless presents were given
to them Tied to one of the little sacred
.

huts o r t o a t ree beside it might be seen

11
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

some o f these gifts walking around several—

S heep o r goats or cows Peeping inside the

.

hut o ne might discover also a b unch of b a

,

nanas or several Skin bottles fil led with

p o m b e which
,
is a Uganda wine made from
bananas The ugly o ld man o r woman who
.

is guar di an o f the prayer b u t keeps these

gifts until the evil S piri t is supposed to have
taken all he wishes to eat ; then the guar di an
gives himself a t rea t S o the p oor W a
.

ganda used t o p ray to t hese evil spirits by

giving them presents no t o f course because
,

they loved the spirit s but be c ause t hey were

afraid of them .

There was ano t her religion also very di f

,

ferent from t his heathen S pirit worship ,

about which Mu tes a had heard a good deal .

F o r about fifty years Ar ab merchants had

,

been coming into Ugand a to trade calico ,

wire beads and various trinkets f or native

, ,

ivory and slaves .

“ ”
There is one t rue Go d, t hese merchants
“
said and his greatest p rophet is Moham
,

med To him God gave great power to do

.

12
 WH ITE MAN OF WORK

his own accord asked Mr Stanl ey to tell .

them of the white man s God As he began

’
.

to tell o f God, the lo ving F ather, and of

'

Jesus Christ his Son , Mr Stanley noticed

, .

that the king and c ou r tiers were listening

more intently t han he had ever known them
to listen before Until that day, it had al
.

ways been thought polite to t alk about any

o ne subj ec t f or a shor t time only ; but now

these black men seemed t o forge t t o become

wearied Each succeeding day Mr Stan
.
, .

ley continued t o t alk on this same subj ect .

H is hearers ap p eared far more interested

in what he said abou t Jesus t han they had
ever been in any o f t he wonderful things
he had told about civilized peop le .

Mr Stanley s visit with Mu tesa lasted for

.
’

some months When it became known that

.

he w a s soon to leave the country some one ,

suggested that at least a f ew o f the t hi ngs

the Whi t e man had said should be written
down s o that they would no t be f orgotten .

By good fortune there were tw o lads who

t ogether c ould do t he translating and writ
14
 I N TE RV I E W W IT H A B LA C K K I N G
’
ing ; one was the king s chief drummer the ,

other w a s o ne o f Mr Stanley s boat boys

.
’
.

S o on thin polished b oards of white wood

, ,

each about a foot square they wrote the ,

Ten Comm andments and some o f the most

striking stories o f the O ld and N ew Testa
ments ; until the W aganda had a little li
bra ry o f board books .

O ne memorable day K ing Mu tes a called

,

to him his chiefs the o fficers o f his guard

, ,

and Mr Stanley W hen all were seated b e

. .

fore him some o n t he floor and some on

,

s t ools in his p alace hut , M u tesa began to

,

S peak .

“ ”
W hen I became king he said in the , ,
“
language of his country I delighted in,

S hedding blood because I knew no better .

I was only following the cus t oms o f my

fathers ; but when an Arab trader came and
,

taught me the Mohamm edan religion I gave ,

up the example o f my fathers and behead ,

ings became less frequent N o man can .

s a y that since that day he has seen M u tes a

drunk with p o inbe But there were a great

.

15
 W H ITE M AN OF WORK

many things I could not understand and

some things which seemed very unreason
able ; but no o ne in Uganda was able t o ex
p lain them to me N o w , God be thanked
.
,

a white man S taml ee h as come to Uganda

, ,

with a book older than the K oran !sacre d

book ] of Mohamm ed My boys have read .

o u t o f it to me and I find it is a grea t deal

,

better than the book o f Mohamm ed besides ,

it is the first and oldest book The prophet .

M u s a !Moses ] wrote some o f i t a long lon g ,

time before Mohamm ed was born A s K in .

tu ou r firs t king was a long time before

, ,

me so M u s a was before Mohamm ed N o w

!

.
,

I wan t you my chiefs and soldiers t o tell

, ,

me what we shall do Shall we believe in .

”
I s a !Jesus ] and M u s a o r in Mohammed ?
O ne o f the group Chambarango by name
, ,
“
spoke up : L et us take that which is the
”
best .

“
B u t came a reply from the prime min
,
“
ister w e do not know which is the best
,
.

The Arabs say their book is the best and ,

the white men say their book is the best

16
 I N T E RVI E W W IT H A B LA C K K I N G

how then can we know which S peaks the

”
truth ?
T h en K auta t he k ing s steward said
’
, ,

W hen Mu tes a became a s o n of Mohamm ed ,

he taught me and I became o ne ; if my m a s

,

ter says he taught me wrong having got ,

more knowledge he c an now tea c h me right

, .

”
I am waiting to hear his words .

Pleased at this M u tes a aga in addressed

,
“
his chiefs : K auta speaks well If I taught .

h im h ow t o become a Mohammedan I di d it ,

because I believed it t o be good Chambar .

‘
ango says L et us t ake t hat which is best
, .
’

True I want tha t which is the best and I

, ,

want the true book ; but t he ha tihiro !prime

‘
minister ] asks H ow are we to know which
,

is true ? And I will answer hi m L isten to

’
.

me The A rabs and the whi te men behave

.

exactly as they are taught in their books ,

do they not ? The A rabs c ome here for

ivory and slaves and we have seen that they
,

do not always speak t he truth and that they ,

buy men o f their o w n c olor and treat them

ba dl y, p utting them in chains and beating
17
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

them The white men when offered slaves

.
, ,
‘
refuse them saying Shall w e make ou r , ,

brothers slaves ? N o ; we are all sons of

’
God . I have not heard a white man tell a
lie yet Speke came here behaved well
.
, ,

and went his way home with his brother

Grant ! Sp eke and Grant were earlier ex
.

p l o rers in A fric a ] They bought no S laves ,

and t he t ime they were in Uganda they were

very good S taml ee came here and he.
,

woul d t ake no slaves W hat A rab would .

have refused slaves like these white men ?

Though we deal in S laves it is no reason ,

w hy i t shoul d no t be bad ; and when I think

that the Arabs and the Whi t e men do as they
are t aught , I s ay that the white men are
greatly superior to the A rabs and I think , ,

therefore that their book must be a better

,

book than Mohamm ed s and of all that ’

,

S taml ee has read from this book I see noth

ing too hard fo r me to believe I have .

listened t o it all well pleased and no w I

.
, ,

a s k you shall we accept this book or M o

,
”
h amm ed s book as o u r guide ?
’

18
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
that in Mu tes a s court a fair t rial was never
’

known If one o f the king s chiefs failed

.
’

to salute his maj esty properly his head was ,

in danger If his bark clo th dress was not

.

tied over his right S houlder according to the

proper fashion M u tesa was likely to order
,

the man to be p ut to death In an instant .

every o ne near the o ff ender would rise ,

’
drums would be beaten drowning the man s
,

cries fo r mercy and t he unfortunate vic

,

tim would be dragged o ff t o his fate Even .

the king s three o r four hun dred wives

’

lived in daily fear of death by order o f

their master Such was t he king whom
.

Stanley was now saying wanted Christian

teachers W ho knew but tha t he might not
.

soon t ire of white men t oo , and order their

lives also t o be t aken ?
Then , t o o , t he young men o f England
though t o f the long and dangerous j ourney
across a country with no railroads They .

though t o f the wild animals o f the deadly ,

hot climat e and of the savage and cannibal

,

chiefs through whose countries they would

20
 I N T E RVI E W W IT H A B LA C K K I N G

pass They pictured the loneliness of liv

.

ing so many months away from all their

white friends and loved ones W ha t j oy .

woul d there be in living in a small grass b u t

with mud floors and no w indows ? W hy
S hould any man who might some day be an
,

honored clergyman in a peacefu l town ir

England go to this uncivilized land and be
,

h is o wn butcher baker and candl estick

, ,

maker ?
W as there even one man in England who
’
would take Mr Stanley s letter seriously ?
.

W o ul d any one be willing to leave home and

friends and risk his life j ust because a black
king in the heart o f A frica plotting per ,

haps fo r t he white man s life , had asked ’

for a missionary ?
Moreover o ne man c ould no t go alone A .

number of men would have to be found who

would go in a p arty Thousands o f dollars
.

woul d be needed for t raveling expenses

alone W as this undertaking worth all it
.

might cost ? W hat would come o f Mr .

’
Stanley s letter ?
21
 CH A P T E R II
W HA T HA PPEN ED AF T ER THE N EW S W AS REA D

N an offi ce in Salisbury S quare in L on

don a small group o f men read Mr .

Stanley s newspaper letter They were men

’
.

w h o had been chosen to gather the money

given fo r missions by the churches and to
send ou t missionaries They were called
.

secretaries of the Church Missionary S o

c iety.

“
IS there anything we can do for K ing
” “
Mu tesa they said to o ne another ?
,
If he
is truly longing to be taught about God will ,

it no t be a crime to refuse to send some one

to tell him ? Even if he is not sincere ought ,

we not to act as if he were ? But who has

the heart to ask any young man to go ?
And who would be willing to give money for
”
the undertaking ?
22
 AFTE R T H E N E W S WA S R E AD

D iscouraged by the di fficulties they s aw

‘

yet unwilling to drop the matter carelessly ,

they locked the office doors and knelt to

gether to ask the F ather to tell them what
H e wanted them to do N o t long did they
.

wait for an answer to their prayers The .

third day after Mr Stanley s article was

.
’

published a letter came addressed to Mr

, .

H utchinson S ecretary o f the Church Mis

,

s io na ry S ociety which S howed that some o ne

,

else had the needs o f Uganda I n mind .

“ ” “
D ear Mr H utchinson it read O ften
.
, ,

have I thought of the people in the interior

o f A frica in the region o f Uganda and I ,

have longed and prayed fo r the time t o come

when the L ord woul d open the door so that
heralds of the gospel might enter the coun
try The appeal o f Stanley to the Chris
.

tian Church from M u tes a s capital seems to

’
,

show that the time has come for the s ol

diers o f the cross to make an advance into
that regi on If the Comm ittee of the
.

Church Missionary S o c iety are prepared at

once and with energy t o s t ar t a miss ion t o
23
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
Victoria L ake I shall gladly give y o u
,

!about with which to begin .

I desire to be known in this matter only

‘
An U np ro fi table S ervant .

!L uke xvii 1 0 ).

The hearts o f the committeemen beat fast

as they read the letter through It all .

“
seemed so wonderful God must be in
.

” “
this they said to o ne another God must
, ,

b e in this
. H e must h ave touched the heart
of M u tes a and made him want to ask for
missionaries : he must have told Stanley to
send the plea o n to England : and he must
have put i t in the heart o f this Christian
man of wealth whose name we do not know
, ,

to make this generous gift W ho are we

.

that w e should stand back and say to God ,

‘ ’
N 0 we are afraid to do our part to help
,
.

They began to study their geographies ,

and to read magazine articles and books of

travel that told about Uganda and the way
to go there By the time a week of such
.

thought and p rayer had p assed, they decided

24
 A FT E R T H E N E W S WA S R EAD

that they would send letters to di fferent

newspapers asking fo r men and money .

S oon another gift of was

made This encouraged them to work and
.

pray for even more Ho w glad they were

.
,

not m any days later when they found that

,

the s um of in all was

ready to be used !
These however were not the only letters
, ,

whi ch came to make them glad S ome were .

from men who had no money to give but ,

who wanted to give their lives O ne was .

from a retired Officer o f the British navy ,

L ieutenant G S h ergo ld Smith O ne was

. .

from an Irish architect Mr O N eill ; an ,

.
’

other from a minister the R ev Mr W ilson

, ,
. .

another from Mr Clark an engineer ; and

.
,

another from Mr W illiam R obertson an

.
,

artisan ; and still another from D r John .

Smith a physician o f Edinburgh All

,
.

these men wanted to go and the secretaries ,

at the o ffice said they would be glad to send

them Another however a carpenter Mr
.
, , ,
.

James R obert s on , they refused to send b e

25
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK

cause o f his poor health ; but having already ,

sold out his business he said he would go

,

and pay hi s o wn expenses These seven .

men with one other made up the party w h o

, ,
’
in answer to Stanley s newspaper appeal
sailed a few months later fo r Mu tes a s land ’
.

This other was the youngest of them all

a S cotchman named Al exander Mackay
—
.

!H e pronounced his name Mack L] H e ,

-

wrote from Germany where he was gaining

a reputation for himself as one of the head
men in an important machine factory H is .

business w a s to draw p lans f or large en

gines .

E ven when a boy Al exander had always

,

been fond o f machinery L iving in a little

.

S cottish village when a lad of about twelve

,

years he used often to walk four miles to

,

the nearest railway station and four miles

back just to see the engine puff into town
hauling a t rain o f cars stop a minute o r tw o
, ,

and then steam o ff again H is good nat .

-

u re d fun made him a great favorite at the

village blacksmith s at the gas works , the

’

26
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
mother often told him stories about mission
aries .

More than a year before Mr S tanl ev s .

’

plea was published Mackay had rea d an ap

,

p eal for Christian doctors to go to M a da ga s

car Al though he knew that thousands of
.

Christians on that island had suffered death

a s martyrs he purp osed if it seemed to be
, ,

God s wish for him to do s o t o go to Mada

’
,
“ ”
gas ear as an engineering mi ssionary .

By this he meant that he wanted to go to

that uncivilized island t o teach the natives
to build roads bridges railways to work
, , ,

mines and t o learn to u s e various kinds of

,

machinery and so help them to become

,

more useful Christians A strange sort o f .

missionary you s ay This is what many of

,
.

his friends thought to o ; fo r they had never

,

before heard o f a mechanic becoming a m is

s io na ry ; but it did not change Mackay s pur
’

p ose H e began at once to prepare for his

.

work by studying the language o f the peo

ple of Madagascar .

This p lan however was changed for a bet

, ,

28
 A FTE R T H E N E W S WA S R E AD

ter o ne O n a bitter cold night during the

.
,

Christmas holidays of 1 8 7 5 he finished ,

reading Stanley s book Ho w I F o u nd Liv

’
,

ing s to ne L aying the book o n the table he

.
,

noticed an old C o p y o f the Edinburgh D a ily

“
R eview . H is eyes fell o n the words H enry
W right Honorary S ecretary Church Mis
, ,
”
s io na ry S ociety H is curiosity was at
.

once awakened H e had found o ne o f the

.

appeals sent out by the secretaries in L on

don asking fo r men to go o u t as missionaries
to M u tesa s kingdom Mr Mackay then
’
. .
,

and there although it w as after midnight

, ,

wro t e to Mr W right offering to go to help

.

teach Mu tesa s p eo p le how t o be useful

’

Christians .

“
M y hear t b urns f or t he d eliverance of
” “
A frica , he wrote and if you can send me ,

to any one o f t hese regions which L iving

stone and Stanley have found to be groan
ing under the curse o f the slave hunter I -

”
shall be very glad !
S o it all came about that in the qu iet old ,

committee room o f the Church Missionary

-

29
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
H ouse one April day the eight young men
bound for Uganda said good by to the com -

mitteemen who stayed at home O ne o f the .

secre t aries S peaking for the rest gave the

, ,

youn g men their last instructions Then .

each o f the p arty replied in his t urn Mr . .

Mackay bein g the youn g es t was the last to

S peak .

“ “
There is one t hing he said which my
, ,

brethren have not said and whi ch I want

,

to s ay I want to remind the comm ittee

.

that wit hin s ix months they will probably

”
hear that one of us is dead H e paused
.

and there was a s olenm stillness in the room .

“
Then he went o n Y es ; is it at all likely
,

that eight Englishm en should star t for Cen

tral Afric a and all be alive s ix months a f
'

ter ? O ne o f u s at leas t it may be I will

,
—

”
surely fall before that But . he added , ,
“
what I want to s ay is this ; when the news
comes do no t be cast dow n but send some
, ,

o ne el se immediately to take the vacant

”
p lace .

By the end of Ap ril all the p arty had

30
 A FT E R T H E N E W S WA S R EAD

sail ed The good bys were hard to say

.
-
.

F riends mothers fathers brothers sisters

, , , , ,

and fo r some their wives and children they

, , ,

might never s ee again Y et their gladness .

was more than their sorrow as the steam

ship put o u t to s ea They believed that the .

H eave nl y F ather was their pilot H e had .

raised the money H e had called his work .

ers and they were no w going wit h him

,
.

F ive long weeks at s ea ! Then down by

the equator a few miles o ff the east coast of
A frica the voyagers at last S ighted the
,

island of Zanzibar There in the city o f .

Zanzibar the busiest seap or t in Eas t A frica

, ,

they landed .

But the king d om o f Mu tesa lay about a

thousand mi les beyond By foot o r o n do n .

’
key S back they must travel through a wild
,

tropical country for a distan c e as far as

from W ashi ngton to Chicago E ven then .

the next to the largest lake in all the world

—

and a very stormy and treacherous o ne it

is to o would still separate them from Mu
, ,
—

’
tesa s land .

31
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
In these days o f railroads and telegraphs ,

it is diffi cult to understand h o w hard it w as

in 1 8 7 6 to prepare for a j ourney o f one
thousand miles into the interior of A frica .

O n leaving the coast the missionaries would

s a y good b y to stores o f every kind
-
N oth .

ing could be p ur c hased a t any p rice in the

country through which they would march
except food such as t he black men ate ,

elephants t usks animal S kins bark cloth

’
, , ,

and slaves E ven these could not be bought

.

with S ilver and gold or with paper money .

A frican chiefs would in sist o n bead money

and o n such things as red caps h andker ,

chiefs cloth , wire gu ns , and gunp owder for

, ,

pay .

Before se t ting sail from L iverp ool the ,

missionaries had spent weeks in hurrying

to and fro from store to store They had .

ordered books clothi ng medicines ham , , ,

’

mers nails spades saws hatchets axes

, , , , , ,

C hisels a forge and bellows shovels grind

, , ,

stones a pump These do not cover half the

, .

list Perhaps the most unique articles in

.

32
 A FT E R T H E N E W S WA S R E AD

their outfit were a printing press a magic

,
-
,

lantern a music b o x and a steam launch

,
-
.

Much of the b ul kiest baggage was left to

be purchased in Zanzibar N o trudging .

around however , from store to store this

,

time A s soon as t he news S pread about the

.

town that a party of Britishers had arrived

boun d for Victoria L ake merchants from ,

India and Arabs began to call o n them A .

lis t o f the articles needed w a s carefully

made o u t and the goods ordered .

A fter several days there came to the house

,

Where the mi ssionaries were staying a num ,

ber o f half naked Indian coolies In one of

-
.

the houses surroun di ng the courtyard they ,

stacked scores o f bun dl es o f varied S hapes

and sizes F irst came boxes of dried foods
.
, ,

pans kettles and dishes

, ,
Most o f the .

camp ing outfit w a s purchased in Z anzib a r ,

including tents white umbrellas waterproof ,

sheets blankets cots and stools

, , ,
.

The largest b u ndles o f all however were , ,

filled with A frican money B y the door were . .

lying pil es o f small change handkerchi efs —

33
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

and red caps O ver in o ne corner the cool

.
,

ies were rolling $ 5 0 bills bales of colored —

and striped cotton cloth Then came the .

bead money bags o f large beads and small

—

beads oval beads and round beads some

, ,

blue some red some green and some white

, , ,
.

A t last the coolies panting with heat

, , ,

lugged in the heavies t bundles o f all

huge coils o f brass wire thousands and —

thousands o f yards H andkerchiefs red .

,

caps cloth beads and brass wire together

, , ,

weighing hundreds o f po unds were all t o be ,

used as money .

The baggage being c ollected the nex t ,

problem w as how to get it carried across the

country t o Mu tesa s kingdom H aving ’
.

nothing but crooked narrow trails fo r road

ways the missionaries were obliged to travel
,

as the A rabs had always done before them .

This meant picking their way o n foot S in

gle fil e mile after mile and using black men
, ,

as beasts o f burden .

N o w even sturdy black baggage carriers

,
-

will not march wit h a burden on t heir heads

34
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK

divide the missi onary party into four cara

vans s o that some could begin the march b e
,

fore all o f the five hundred baggage carriers -

were foun d .

Two of the caravans had no t yet start ed

“ ”
when the angel o f death visited the camp .

“
W ithin six months y ou will probably hear
”
that o ne o f us is dead Mr Mackay had
, .

said to the committee before leaving E ng

land W ithin four months the prophecy
.

was fulfilled O n a little island o ff the

.

coast a grave w a s dug for the body o f James

,

R obertson the carpenter who had gone with

,

the p arty at his o wn expense H e had .

given his life f or a king and a p eople he had

never seen .

The nex t t o the las t c aravan t o leave the

coast was Mr Ma ckay s Crowds o f peo
.
’
.

ple from the town o f Bagamoyo flocked to

see the white man and his procession fil e
o u t o f the village A bugle call had sum
.

moned those hired for the j ourney to gather

’ ’
before the white man s quart ers A man s .

load w as given to each carrier and hi s p lace

36
 A FTE R T H E N E W S WA S R E AD
in the procession assigned F irst marched .

a half dozen soldiers who never had even

-
,

carried guns unt il Mr M ackay began to .

tra in them Then came the leader o f the

.

porters with a load o n his shoul ders twice as

heavy as any o ne else carried H e was fo l .

lowed by about tw o hundred men loaded

with their sixty p o un d pillow bolsters B e -
.

hin d them straggled the wives o f a few por

ters an aged father and a handful o f small
, ,

boys N ext walked a line o f four donkeys

.

laden with parts o f a steam launch other ,

machinery and t ools and much o f the cloth

, .

A fter them , marched Mr H artwell a .

,

sailor who was now Mr Mackay s only

,
.
’

white companion H e was followed by a

.

’
cook Mr Mackay s personal servant three
,
.
,

stoker boys an interpreter an A frican ma

, ,

s o n and a carpenter
,
L ast o f all came a .

group o f sol di ers Mr Mackay and a dog

,
.
,
.

It was an int eresting procession for the

townspeople to watch for marching S ingle ,

fil e they stretched along the path fo r about

,

a quarter of a mile .

37
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
Talking laughing and singing the long
, , ,

line wound here and there through the tall

j ungle grass , do w n some little valley o r up
a tiny hill But the su n shone hot above
.

them and the p ath w as hard and dry In

,
.

an hour or s o the heat became oppressive

,
.

The orderly line grow irregular S ome .

straggled behind blaming Mr Mackay for

,
.

their discomfort Those accustomed to

.

march walked steadily o n toward a river

about three miles distant where they knew
they could rest but some of the inexp eri
,

enc ed ones were already lying flat o n the

groun d crying fo r water and bewailing that

they had ever been such fools as to leave
their homes .

D uring the firs t few days the caravan ,

proceeded very slowly The men insisted

o n marching only an hour o r tw o in the

morning and o n resting all the next day .

By promising higher wages if they would

march longer each day Mr Mackay su c ,
.

cee ded in getting them to march from s u n

rise o r soon after until about noon .

38
 A FT E R T H E N E W S WA S R E AD

The country through whi ch they passed

varied greatly from day to day Some .

times they pushed their way through fields

O f grass as ta ll as themselves o r even higher

and having stalks almost a s thick as sugar

cane. Every no w and then they were
startled by a hipp opotamus o r an antelop e
scared from its hi ding place in the heavy
-

grass .

Starting o fi again they came to a S wamp

,

more beautiful to look at than to wade

through It w a s filled with large graceful
.

ferns and beautiful pink flowers At night .

it w a s alive with fireflies The missionaries

.

thought thi s S i ght worth going hundreds o f

miles to see They also p assed through
.

fields o f millet growing to a height of S ix

teen o r eighteen feet A t another place
.
,

they were refreshed by the cool shade o f a

park like forest The giant cacti and eu
-
.

p h o rb ia trees made it seem very different

from the woo dl ands at home They dis c o v .

ered gorgeous butterflies and many birds o f

brilliant plumage that their friends in E ng
39
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
land had never seen Sometimes the for
.

e s t changed to jungle Then with an ax

.

and hatchet foot by foot they had to slash

a wider path in front of them before the ,

donkeys could wedge their way between the

tw o walls o f underbrush o n either side .

Y ou would have enj oyed seeing how Mr .

Mackay fed his large family o f tw o hundred

blacks R eaching a p lace near a water s u p
.

ply where it w a s planned that the caravan

would spend the night tents were pitched
,

and the goods piled under a tree or in a

tent W hen in a district where wild beasts
.

were common a fence o f thorns w a s built

,

round the camp A s soon as this work was

.

completed the head men of the caravan c o l

,

lected before Mr Mackay s tent and cried

.
’

“ “
P o s ho B w a na
, ! R ations ,

Instead o f han ding out food to them he had ,

a bale of calico brought to him and meas ,

uring it by the length of the forearm from

the elbow to the tip of the middle finger he ,

gave each one eight of these lengths for

every sixt een men of whom he had charge .

40
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK
little in front of his smallpox w a s raging ,

severely a nd here and there along the road

,

lay the bodies o f men who had died on the

march In order to escape the tracks o f
.

this caravan Mr Mackay left the regular

,
.

road and for tw o days he and his men waded

knee deep through a mixture of black mud
-

and water .

Through his attempt t o hustle the slow

going A frican Mr Mackay overtaxed him
, .

self and was taken S ick with the A frican

fever F o r a few days he was to o weak to
.

walk and was obliged to ride one of the don

keys that had been carrying baggage A t .

last however the feverish coast plains were

, ,
-

left behind Gla dl y thev climbed the moun

.

tains to the little town o f Mpwa p wa They .

had traveled only a little farther than from

N ew Y ork to B oston ; ye t t he march had
dragged along for six weeks .

At Mpwapwa three of the missionary car

avans met F o r a few days the white men
.

rested and prepared for the j ourney ahead .

Ho w they enj oyed their after dinner chats -

42
 A FT E R T H E N E W S WA S R EAD

as they s at together in one of the tents tell

ing the experiences o f the march !
O nly a few days at Mpwapwa and then
two of the caravans are o ff again made up —

of D r Smith Mr Mackay and over three

.
, .
,

hundred baggage carriers By their first -

.

Sunday they overtook another o f the car

,

avans ahead led by L ieutenant S mith the

, ,

o ld naval O fficer .

F o r thirty o r for t y miles b eyond them

stretched a dreary plateau covered with a
thick lo w jungle N o t a human being lived
,
.

in all this lonely forest and the caravan

could find neither food nor water except
what they carried with them in knapsacks
and water bottles A fter days o f this tire
-
.

some march they entered the wide open

, ,

land o f U go go H er e every few miles w a s

.

a new village ; and with every group of vil

lages they found a new chief Each chief .

insisted that to t r avel through his country

w a s a privilege and the white man would
,

have to pay for it The p aying o f this toll

.
,

o r ho ng a as they call it added not o nl y a ,

43
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

great deal of expense to caravan travel but -

,

also caused many annoying delays .

Their experience with o ne of the chiefs

o f U g o g o will S how something o f the man

ner in which they were treated in many vil

lages A short distance from the chief s
.
’

village the caravan encamped The follow

, .

ing morning two o f the more i ntelligent Af

ricans were sent to call o n the chief and to ,

take him a gift o f some cloth They found .

a monarch much soiled with dirt and grease

sitting on a stool in his wattled hut drinking
p o mb e . H e received the cloth but de ,

m anded a great deal more F ifty cloths

.
,

he insisted was none t oo much The mes .

s engers claimed that such a demand was rob

bery and hour after hour they quarreled

with him At nightfall the messengers re
.

“
turned to camp and rep orted The chief,
’
is sitting at p o inb e and won t hear reason
,
.

‘
H e says The white man is a great sultan
,

in his own country and he must pay a big

,
f ”
h o ng a
The next morning they returned to the
,

44
 AF T E R T H E NEW S WA S R E AD

mud palace and again tried to reason with

the stubborn chief L ater in the day L ieu
.
,

tenant Smith himself entered his maj esty s ’

presence and added his word of protest .

F inally the chi ef agreed t o re c eive forty

fi ve bales of cloth .

The troublesome matt er being settled

L ieutenant Smith thought he would enter
tain the chief with some o f the white man s ’

wonders Taking a match box from his

.

pocket he struck a light The chi ef was

,

frightened or pre t ended to be and cried

, , ,
“ ”
The w hi te man is trying t o kill me !
R ushing from hi s hut he disappeared , .

L ater he sent to the missionaries camp to ’

s a y that fo r such a serious o fi ens e they

would have to p ay as a forfei t twenty fi ve -

bales of c l ot h mo re than had al ready been

given .

So the p rivile g e o f c amp in g f or three days

in thi s chi ef s realm , cost the missionaries
’

seventy bales o f cloth o r about $ 1 0 0 .

W hen the cloth w a s paid the big drum of the

village was beaten and the caravan kne w
45
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

that they were at liberty to proceed on their

w ay .

O n entering U go go Mr Mackay s fever

,
.
’

had returned and for miles he had to be

carried in a hamm ock There being good .

water in the land o f this ruler he would like

to have s t ayed longer in his domain H e .

feared however tha t more ho ng a would be

,

charged him if he remained .

W hat should he do ? Just beyond lay a ,

nine days wilderness and imm ediately after

’

that w a s another that would take three days

to cross N 0 water and no food were to be
.

found in t hese jungles and the cara van s ,

’

supply of provisions was verv l o w L ieu .

tenant Smith and D r Smith urged him to.

return to the coast H ard as it w a s to turn

.

back Mr Mackay fin ally yielded t o the coun

,
.

s el of his friends .

L ying in a hammock s w ung from the

S houl ders o f tw o strong men Mr Mackay .

was carried back to the town o f Mpwapwa

over the path by which he had just come .

Eight others carried his tent instruments , ,

46
 A FTE R T H E N E W S WA S R E AD
clothes cooking utensils and some cloth with
, ,

which to buy food .

A t o ne t ime he became s o weak t h at he

,

expected to die Calling for a writing desk

.
,

he mixed an ink powder and commenced

what he thought would be his last letter on
earth But during the night a change fo r
.
,

the better came Mr Mackay said a bunch

. .

of home letters had been his best medicine .

In eleven days he walked the entire distance

from Mpwapwa to the coast and o n reaching ,

Zanzibar he was almost a well man .

It was no w the last o f N ovember 1 87 6 ,

.

O ne year had passed since Mr Stanley s let .

’

ter had appeared in the D a ily T eleg ra p h .

A band o f eight young men from G reat

Britain had started for Mu tesa s land O ne ’
.

had laid down his life at the very gateway

o f the continen t O ne having started inland
.

had been stricken with fever and w a s obliged

to begin the march anew O ne had settled
.

at Mpwapwa to start a mission there The .

other fi ve with their hundreds o f black car

riers were plodding a long through jungle
47
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
and swamp and over mountain and plain
toward Victoria L ake.

But what o f K ing Mu tes a ? Since Stam

”
lee left no word had come from the white
,
“
men W ere they going to leave him s it
.

”
ting in darkness ? W hen would they ever
“
come to teach hi m h o w to see

48
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

could be done about building a road to

Mpwapwa A t first this man o f energy was
.

disapp ointed W hen again would he see his

.

friends he thought and h o w much longer

, ,

must he wait before telling K ing M u tes a o f

the white man s God ? Y et without a c o m
’
,

plaint he was ready to turn road builder

,
-
.

But his friends u p country sorely needed -

fresh supplies A t the earliest possible mo

.

ment he must gather a caravan and with

, ,

some one else at its head he must send it o ff ,

toward Victoria L ake The story is again .

o ne of delays and hardships Compelled to .

sail three hundred miles north from Z anzi

bar to find porters he tramped back on foot
,

from village to village along the coast .

W hat discomforts were crowded into the

three months he S pent hiring baggage car -

riers no one but Mr Mackay himself knew !

,
.

W riting of o ne of his long j ourneys he ,

“
said : This walk w a s much harder than
any I have made before D ays of man .

grove swamp hours o f wading nearly to the

,

waist and occasional swimming across rap id

,

50
 JU N G L E ROAD S AND CX -
C AR TS
rivers usually gave me an appetite fo r food
and rest I had only a man !my cook ) and
.

a boy with me so that I had to dispense with

,

the luxuries o f a tent bed change of cloth , ,

ing and such things I often go t a b u t to

, .

sleep in but when not I enj oyed sleeping in

, ,

the open air preferring it often to a c o w

,

stable swarming with ant s and similar u n

”
pleasant friends .

“
L ater he wrote again : I have slept in all
sorts of places a c o w stable a sheep cote a
— -
,
-
,

straw hut not much larger than a do g kennel -

,

a hen house and often in no house at all S o

-
,
.

anything suits me provided I get a spot ,

tolerably clear of ants and mosquitoes O f .

all the plagues of Egypt none coul d have ,

”
been worse than that of the black ants !
F inally the carriers were hired and the
,

caravan w a s started o n its way toward Vic

toria L ake The young missionary h o w
.
,

ever who had gathered it w a s again help

,

lessly ill with fever The strain of the three

.

months o f labor had proved too much for

him H ad it no t been for the kind nursing
.

51
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

of whi te friends in Zanzibar his life story

would perhaps have ended here .

Six weeks later however he was o u t o f

, ,

bed and enthusiastic over the comm onplace

labor o f buil di ng a road H aving hired .

forty black carriers besides women to carry

,

loads and men to drive donkeys he s et up a ,

camp about five mi les from the coast on the

to p of a h il l overlooking a small town This .

seemed a most desirable S pot for camping

because it was high and exposed to fresh
breezes from b oth the s ea and the land .

H ere Mr Mackay planned to live several

.

weeks while w o rking on the road in the

,

neighborhood .

W riting from this camp he said I s it,

at present like Abraham in his tent door .

My servants my flocks and my herds are

, ,

about me I am well again thank God and

.
, ,

camp life has s et my spirits up My horse .

,

my dog my goat my oxen and donkey s

, , , ,

with all my household o f nearly seventy men

and women are enough to feed and quite
, ,

en o ugh to lo o k after at o ne time .

52
 JU N G L E ROAD S AND C AR TS
'
CX —

M y working gang c o nsist s o f o nly about

forty men and these I h ave armed with the
,

best American axes English hatchets picks

, ,

and spades and saws All these tools are as

.

new to them as they are to the natives o f the

villages w e p ass through A donkey s load .
’

o f large iron nails I have taken with me a nd ,

plenty of hamm ers but the wood is as a rule

,

too hard for the iron to enter F or such .

cases I have supplied myself with a large

,

stock o f strong rope o f cocoanut fiber .

“
O ne o f the t ools I brought with me from
England p roves more serviceable than all
the rest t ogether I t is merely a tw o foot
.
-

grindst one which I have mounted o n a

wooden frame Every evening when we re
.

turn from work in t ime the edges o f the ,

tools are applied to the face o f this wonder

ful machine while the villagers crowd
,

aroun d as anxiously gazing on as little

‘
Toddy ever did when he wanted to s ee the
’
w eels go wound .
’

D uring the morning hours the gang would

b e b usy with axes saws and shovels In the
, ,
.

53
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

open and level country men would be scat

,

tered here and there over the trails each ,

clearing and leveling his o wn particul ar

stretch of the road Perhaps far behind the
.

rest woul d be fi ve o r s ix workm en toiling

,

stea di ly at some unusually sturdy tree ,

whose hard wood was t oo much for the saws

and axes .

In the dense j un gles o n the other hand

, ,

the men would be huddled together like colo

nies of ants doing their hardest work S o
,
.

thick were some o f these woodlands that the

black to il ers were often hi dden from S ight .

A ccor ding to Mr Mackay even a cat could

.

scarcely find room to wedge its way through

the matted underbrush creepers and trop
, ,

ical ferns W here a narrow trail had before

.

been cut through these miles o f jungle the ,

branches and hanging vines were s o closely

interlaced overhead that the traveler could
scarcely get a glimpse o f the blue sky and ,

would be walking as it were thr ough a

, ,

damp leafy tunnel To s aw through a tree

,
.

trunk in su c h a tangled mass , seldom meant

54
 JU N G L E ROAD S AN D CX -
CAR TS

that the tree would fall unless the matted ,

undergrowth were first slashed away .

Sometimes they shelved o u t a f oot ing

around the brow o f a mountain ; sometimes
they had to cover swampy stretches with
layers o f logs thus making a corduroy road
, .

At other times they prepared to ford streams

by grading the banks o n either side .

Their greatest achievement was the build

ing of a bridge in s even days The ignor ant
'

black men had never before seen any kind

o f a bridge for wagon tra ffic The entire .

s t ruc ture was built o f wood almost as hard

as iron s o that Mr Mackay thought that it
.

would long stand agains t the attacks o f white

ants .

These negro lab orers l ike mos t o f their

,

race , worked best when S inging A s the y .

chopped and Shoveled and dug o ne might ,

have heard them chant this song made up for

Mr Mackay s S pecial benefit
.
’

“
E h, mu zu ngu mbaya,
eh,

T u ha ti miti ,

T u ende Ula ya .

55
 W H ITE MAN OF WORK

Put into English it means

Is not the white man very bad ,

H e fells to the ground the tall trees ,

To make a way for the Englishman .

D ays weeks and even months came and

, ,

went Al l th e way black men slashed and

.

sawed and dug and leveled whil e Mr

, ,
.

Mackay rode o r walked back and forth

among them encouraging them to their
,

best work O fttimes he S howed t hem what

.

to do and h ow to do it by taking shovel or

pick in hand and leveling banks o r fil ling ,

mud holes H e provided their food plan

-
.
,

ned for their shelter and cared for their

sick H e longed to be able to talk their
.

language that he might tell them of the

God who cared for them and wanted them
to live useful lives F inally after o ne hun
.
,

dred days o f vigorous t oil the road was ,

completed .

Before it was begun there w as only a

c rooked narrow trail stretching for the two
,

hundred and thirty miles to Mpwapwa A t .

s ome p laces donkeys could s c ar c ely be

,

56
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK

Of the matter and told me o ne day with all

, ,

the command his dirty visage could assume ,

that I must pay a hundred dollars for cut

ting down the trees in his territory I told .

him that it w a s he who should give me the

hundred dollars to pay my men for making
,

a bridge which he and his p eople could not

make F o r as soon as I w a s gone he would
.
,

call it his o wn and probably levy ho ng a

,

from those caravans which cared to p ay

”
him .

W hen the road was comple t ed M r ,

.

M ackay and his men re turned to the coast .

“ “
N o w he thought w e are ready to travel
, ,

in a civilized way W e will buy oxen and

.

carts for carrying o u r b ag gage and we will

reach Mpwapwa in hal f t he time it took us
before The exp eriment has been tried most
.

successfully in S outh A frica by other men ;

”
why cannot we succeed in Central A frica ?
Most enthusiastically he began prepara
tions for the j ourney but again he found
,

that he had a diflficu lt task before him In .

the first p lace oxen which never be f ore had

, ,

58
 JU N GL E ROAD S AND OX -
C AR TS

been hitched to carts had to be broken in , .

N either could men be found who had ever

'

before driven oxen so that new hands had to

,

be taught This w a s harder Mr Mackay

.
,
.

said than to teach the oxen to pul l

, .

Then too they were obliged to camp in a

, ,

very unhealthful place Up in his old camp .

o n the hill many o f the oxen died from the

,

p oisonous sting o f the tsetse fly and Mr , .

Mackay with his men and flocks and herds

w as obliged to move t o the plain F or at .

least tw o months before they started on their

j ourney it rained nearly every day The
,
.

plain became a quagmire and the training of

oxen and men had to stop .

W aiting s o long at the coast fo r the rainy

season to pass Mr Mackay s men grew dis
, .
’

contented and unru ly and some o f them de

s erted him Also Mr T ytherleigh his a s
.
,
.
,

s is tant who had lately arrived from E ng

land was laid lo w with a severe attack of

,

fever They must soon travel along o r

.

many others also would be S ick .

In Spit e o f the rain and mud therefore , ,

59
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK
the long lumbering caravan moved o u t o f
the town There were s ix large awkward
.

carts loaded to the full with baggage .

Teams o f from eight to twenty oxen were

pulling each cart Many more oxen were
.

taken as reserves to fill the places o f those

which might be injured or be c ome sick o n
the road In all there were as m any as
.

eighty oxen T o drive and to lead these ani

.

mals and t o manage the brakes o n the carts

required thirty men and thirty more might
,

have been seen carrying on their heads bun

dles o f baggage Behind the carts came a
.

flock of sheep and goats to be used as food

,

for the part y and also five donkeys and six

,

dogs .

O ver each c ar t waved a flag W hen they .

camped by the road fo r the night a flag ,

waved also above each tent door the largest ,

’
o f all flying over Mr Mackay s tent
. T h ese .

were no t the national flags o f Great Britain

or o f the United States ; they were blue each ,

with a large red cross painted o n its center .

The Afr ic an heathen could not understand

60
 JU N GL E ROAD S AND C X - C AR TS

what they meant but any Christian will

,

readily guess the meaning o f the flags .

A fter ten days o f travel Mr Mackay tells , .

“
this story of their adventures : A long
time without practise on account o f the rain
,

and mud had put the oxen o u t of trim s o

, ,

that when we s et o ff we were able to m ake

only a few hundred yards progress the first ’

day N ext day more rain made matters

.

worse and we made not half a mile I then

,
.

resolved to remove four hundred pounds of

baggage from each cart A fter a couple o f .

’
days rearranging loads we got a fair start , ,

but another deluge o f rain caused us to stop

short at the foot o f the hill where o u r old
camp had been N ext day we got to the top
.

o f the hill and have s ince t hen made a little

,

progress when it w as fair .

“
A fter ten marching days usually with ,

double teams in each cart and wheels down ,

to the axle in mud we are camped to day

,
-

only ten miles from the coast I have re .

solved therefore to send back two o f t he

, ,
”
larger c arts with their loads .

61
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
About tw o weeks later !Christmas D ay ,
“
1 8 7 7 ] he wrote again Y ou S hould see me
every day with clothe s bespattered with mud
and hands black like a chimnev sweep s -
’

catching the spokes of the wheels every no w

and then a s they ge t into holes and yelling
,

at the tO p o f my voice to the oxen till the,

forest resounds S o much yelling have I

.

to do in the six hours we march a day that ,

when I get into camp I am always quite

hoarse A team o f twenty s ix oxen fre
.
-
,

quently spanned o n in front o f one cart does ,

need good shouting and lashi ng to get them

to pull together It is not walking with my
.

umbrella or riding o n a d onkey behind a

cart but ever getting some one o r other o r
,

all the cart s o u t of this difficulty and the

next My men are far from skilful in the
.

art o f driving long teams through the for

est and are constantly bringing the carts
,

against trees o r stones o r into holes not in

,

frequently upsetting them altogether I t .

is hopeless for instance in trying to cross a

, ,

river to find one ox lie down , ano ther brea k

,

62
 JU N G L E ROAD S AND CX -
C AR T S
loose and run away several more with their,

faces to the cart where their tails should be

, ,
’
and s o o n O ne s p atience gets sorely tried
.

by such occurrences but the only way is p a

,

tiently to arrange all and try again .

H ere are some lines from another le tt er

A terrible scorpion crawled over me j ust
now I S houl d like you to s ee half the hor
.

ro rs o f the kind I see in a day snakes and —

ants o n the ground below till o ne shudders

from top to toe and terrible biting sting
, ,

ing huge flies all above and about drawing

, ,

blood at every b i t e L ast night I w a s busy

.

S leeping when jus t at my ear a terrible

,

growl of a hyena made me spring to my feet ,

‘ ’
seize my rifle and fire ; but Bobby my dog , ,

was before me and s et up such a furious

,

bark that the beast skulked o ff before I had

time to present it with a bullet I dare say .

you think it a dastar dl y kind o f life to lie ,

with a revolver under o ne s pillow and a ’

rifle at one s S ide but it is necessary here

’
, ,

for anything may happen at any moment ,

”
and it is best to be ready .

63
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
S ometimes Mr M ackay s experiences
.
’

were more amusing than dangerous O ne .

night he was sleeping soundly on a mattress

o n the floor o f his tent when he was awak
,

ened by a very uncomfortable feeling o f

numerous t hi ngs crawling over h im To .

his surprise he found a colony of brown

ants in his tent Unwittingly he had
.

camped across their line o f march By .

thousands they were crawling over him and

his matt ress H e cl imbed o n to p o f a box
.
,

W hile some of his men s et fire to the whole

ground inside and around his t ent A fter .

an hour s s t ruggle the ants disappeared but

’
, ,

Mr Mackay Sle pt on the top o f the box till

.

daybreak .

At o ne pla c e , the p arty were obliged to

cross a river very much flooded by the re
cent rain s They c ould n o t wai t for the
.

water to fall for thunder storms were com

,
-

ing as frequently a s ever Cross it they .

must ; but h o w to do it was a most difficult

puzzle This is the way Mackay solved it
. .

O ne of t he cart s w a s strip p ed o f its wheels

64
 JU N G L E ROAD S AND CX —
C AR TS
and all other fitt ings s o that when all the
cracks were fil led with tar it made a sort,

o f small barge A few excellent swimmers

.

o f the c aravan carr ied a cord across the

river By means o f thi s cord a rO p e was

.

hauled across and passed around a strong

post o n the O pp osit e S ide and then brought
,

back to the S ide o n which the caravan was

stationed To this pulley the cart barge
.
-

w as atta c hed By p ul ling the rope from

.

o ne o r the other bank the men carried the

,

barge wi th its cargo o f freight across the

river o r brought i t back empty t o be re
,

loaded O ther swoll en rivers and smaller

.

streams had t o be crossed from time to time .

It was no mere p lay to cross any one of them

with oxen and carts and bagga g e which
needed to be ke p t dry .

O ne day the accidents were not c onfined

,

to the carts o r baggage but Mr Mackay,

.

himself w as temporarily crippled H e had .

just succeeded in getting one of the carts

over a stream when he became entangled in
,

a bush and one o f the wheels caught his righ t

65
 WH I T E M AN OF WORK
foot H e fell and the wheel ran over both
.
,

his legs H e nearly fainted from the shock ;

.

yet a little crude doctoring revived hi m con

s iderably Two of his men putting their
.
,

loads into the carts carried him along in a

,

hammock H owever it continued to be a

.
,

day o f troubles ; fo r car t after cart upset .

Then too sick as he was Mr Mackay was

, ,
.

obliged to turn from p atient to doctor ; fo r

the chi ef of a village near by hearing o f his ,

arrival sent to him seven o f hi s subj ects

,

to be vaccinated and one li t tle boy to be

cured o f spinal di sease !
O ne morning the nat ives gave Mr Mack .

a y a unique surprise L o his road had .

,

been changed into a field o f growing corn .

W e thought you white men had cleared

this space for us that w e mi ght plant gar
”
dens the natives explained
,
.

In reality they were afraid that t he great

,

teams o f oxen com ing along the white

man s road would soon be followed by vast
’

European armi es The farther inland the

.

caravan traveled the more the natives tried

,

66
 JU N GL E R OAD S AND OX —
C AR TS

to harass them In many places they .

,

blocked the road with bushes and trunks o f

trees ; as soon as the cattle were safely
across a river they drove them back to the
,

other side ; and became very angry when

they s aw the oxen tread down the corn
planted on the track Indeed o ne chief .
,

sent word to Mr Mackay that if he took his

.

teams past the chief s village he would be ’

S hot O nly by patience and S kill could head

.

way be made .

Still o ne more misfortune c ame upon

them greater than all that have been men
,

tio ned In many p arts o f the road the

.
,

caravan was pestered by the tsetse fli es .

These were large brownish yellow insects -

whi ch by thousands stun g both the men

, ,

and the oxen Al though they seemed to

.

bring little more than discomfor t t o the men

their sting was almost invariably fatal to
the animals W hen still some distance
.

from Mpwapwa half of the eighty oxen with

,

which they started were dead and many ,

more were sick and it was not many weeks

,

67
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

before the surviving oxen became so few

that the carts were abandoned entirely .

Thus the road had been built at the cost

o f nearly one third o f a year s time W ith
’
-
.

much di ffi culty oxen had been trained and

men taught to drive them Carts had been
.

brought all the way from India and much ,

money had been spent and months of hard

,

rough labor had been given to make travel

by carts a success ; but the little brown flies
with their p oisonous stings S poiled it all .

It w a s discouraging in deed ; but listen to

the missionary who had done the hardest
,

work of all.

“
Small beginnings may lead to some
thing higher and better in the futur e but ,

the first steps cannot be anyth ing but tedi

ou s
. The longest night has always had a
dawnwhen done and here I do believe no
,

far distant time will see a very different

order o f things from what has been always
in the past W e are indeed groping in the
.

dark as to h o w or what we ought to do first ,

but great bodies grow slowly and the g ar

,

68
 JU N G L E ROAD S AND CX -
CAR TS
den of the devil cannot be reclaimed for
G o d all in a year .This will certainly be
yet a highway for the K ing H imself and ,

all that pass this way will come t o know his

name .

W hy should this o ne white man be so

hopeful ? W hen traveling o n foot he had ,

barely escap ed death from fever H e had .

failed in building a road W hat would he

.

attemp t next ? Indeed what was there left

,

for him to t ry ?

69
 C H AP T E R IV
TWO REC EPT IO N S AT THE RO Y AL P ALACE

HA T o f the rest of the brave band

who started together from England ?
A grave to be found o n a small island o ff
the coast near Zanzibar told the story o f
o ne ; and by the shores of Victoria L ake o n

a wooden S lab above a mound o f earth could

“
have been read the name D r John ,
.

”
Smith . Two more of the party had re
turned to their English homes as invalids .

W hile Mr Mackay was still cutting digging

.
, ,

and leveling for the road to Mpwapwa the ,

other three members o f the party that re

ma ined were camping beside the far reach -

ing waters of Victoria L ake They were .

L ieutenan t Smith Mr O N eill and Mr W il

, .
’
.
.

s on
.

To these men t enting on t he lake shore

70
 W H ITE MAN OF WOR K

W i th s o urgent an ap p eal from the king

himself little wonder is it that tw o o f the
,

white men leaving Mr O N eill to guard

,
.
’

their supplies and to repair the st eam

launch hastened alone t o the northern shore
,

of the lake .

It w as abou t an hour a fter sunse t on a

June day in 1 8 7 7 when their boats were
,

anchored o ff a little Uganda village at the

head o f a beautiful bay H ere they were
.

left by their guides who went to the king to

announce the coming o f the white men .

S oon some o f Mu tesa s chie f men arrived t o

’

{72
 R E C E PTI ON A T TH E ROYAL PALA C E

s ay that they must come to his palace with

the escort the king had sent .

A most interesting walk it was to the

capital city taking all of tw o days Plan
,
.

tain groves covered thousands o f acres o f

hil lsides H ere the missionaries found
.

themselves in a great tropical p ark where , ,

through the branches o f the trees glimpses ,

of the beautiful lake could be had There .

they wound their way through the thi ck for

est where the tall trees were heavily fes
,

to o ned with t ropical vines o f rare beauty .

A gain they stopped to rest by a cool clear

, ,

stream in the mi dst of a valley abounding

in ferns and palms O n the march once .

more they crossed a broad swamp by w ay

,

o f a lo g road At last R u b a ga the capital

.
,

city was reached where they were sho w n to

, ,

t he huts made ready for them b y the king s ’

order .

The firs t day the king paid his respects by

sen ding a rich present of cooking utensils ,

plantains potatoes
,
sugar cane ,
milk —

p o p i he venison
,
and fir ewood,
Prom pt ly .

73
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
’
at eight o clock the following morning tw o ,

o f the chief o ffi cers of the king came to es

cort them to the palace These officers were

.

superbly costumed in garbs modeled after

the Arab style Their white trousers tunics ,
.
,

and stockin gs were beautifully set o ff by

,

red shoes and c aps A s the missionaries

.

climb ed the hill lea di ng to the palace they ,

were escorted b y several soldiers dressed

in whi te each carrying a flint lock musket
,
-
.

Behind them p araded a crowd of W aganda

dressed fo r t he most p art in long loose ,

brown gowns made from fi g tree bark Al -

.

together the o fficers the soldiers the white

, , ,

men and the crowd in long procession made

,

a S ight tha t was picturesque indeed .

The broad straight road which led up to

,

the royal hill sup erb in itself w a s made es

, ,

p ec ia lly im p osing by the tall fence o f tiger

grass enclos ing it on either side T o build .

these fences posts ten o r twelve feet in

height were driven into the gro u nd at in
tervals o f a few yards In and out were
.

then woven long thick horizontal rop es o f

, ,

74
 R E C E PTI ON A T T H E ROYAL P ALA C E

reed like grass stalks F inall y to make the

-
.

meshes closer there were tied to the fence

,

many vertical stalks of the same kind of

grass F ences such as this lined all the im
.

p ortant roads in Uganda and were used also

to enclose the priva t e yards about the huts .

At the to p of the h ill s t ood Mu tes a s pal ’

ace a building forty fee t in height and su p

—

ported o n each S ide by st raight wooden p il

lars The gra c eful yellow stems of tiger
.

grass formed i t s walls and its roof to o was , , ,

thatched with grass W i th its seventy feet

.

o f length the struc t ure w a s easily the larg

,

est in the realm T o the front o f the p alace

.

were a number o f court s separat ed from o ne

an other by high grass fences with S li ding ,

doors o f grass conne ct ing them .

A s the white men neared the royal en

closure a bugle announced t heir comi ng
, ,

the gates of the c ourts were Opened one by

o ne as the par t y a p proa c hed and quickly ,

closed behind them as they p assed T W O .

lines of white robed sol di ers made a lane

-

through ea c h court , each soldier carrying a

75
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

gun A s the last gate Opened and closed

.
,

L ieutenant S mi th and Mr W ilson found .

themselves before the open door of the pal

ace itself .

In the central hall O n st ools ranged in tw o

,

rows o n ei ther S ide o f the entrance sat all ,

the chi efs o f the country Some were .

dressed in black some were in white and

, ,

some in red ; but all the costumes were o f

Arabian pattern Al l the chiefs arose as the
.

white men entered The guests were con

.

ducted to the upper end o f the hall where o n

a chair of white wood s at his maj esty K ing ,

M u tesa The king w as wearing a black A rab

.

tunic trinmi ed with gold braid His trous .

ers and stockings were white and his cap ,

and shoes were red In his belt he carried

.
,

a richly mounted sword At hi s feet lay a .

small rug while the rest of the hall was car

,

p eted with grass .

AS the Englishm en ap p roached Mu tes a ,

arose from his throne S hook hands w ith ,

them and then by a wave of the hand di

,

rected them to tw o stools near him which

76
 W H ITE M AN OF WOR K
which w e p ossess ; her laws are framed in
accordance with it ; her p eople are made
happy by it O ur desire is that your throne
.

S hould be made secure your country be

made great , and your p eople made hap py by
the same means .

“
W e have resolved there f ore by the help,

o f God to send to you two or three o f ou r

,

friends who will be prepared to settle

,

among your people a nd to t each them the

,

W ord o f G o d and other knowledge which

,

will be use ful . F rom what Mr .

Stanley h as t old us , we are sure you will

give them a warm welcome when they ar
rive and treat them kindly and take care
, ,

that they want nothing .

“
Commending yo u to the grace and bless
ing of the Most H igh G o d who is King o f
,

kings and L ord of lords and W hose servants

,

we are ,

W e desire t o subs c ribe ourselves ,

Y our Maj esty s friends and well wishers

’ -
.

In the midst o f the reading o f the letter ,

the king ordered the firing o f a salute and ,

78
 R EC EPT IO N AT T HE R OYAL PALA C E

a general rej oicing to be made and at the ,

close o f the reading the expressions of glad

,

ness seemed to have no bounds The king .

,

half rising from his chair called his chief ,

musician and ordered a more vigorous re

j o ic ing . D rums were beaten horns were ,

blown and all the assembly o f chiefs were

,

bowing their heads and clapping their

hands and saying again and again N yan
,‘ ,
” “ ” “ ” “
zig, N ya nzig W e thank you
, We ,
”
thank you The king asked his interpre
.

ter to tell the white men that what they saw

and heard was all for the name o f Jesus .

A fter some conversation the white men ,

presented their gi fts to the kin g These in .

cluded a Turkish rug a map of A frica , ,

photographs and other articles Lieu ten

, .

ant Smith apologized for the small number

o f things they had to g ive saying that some,

had been stolen from them on the w ay .

T o this th e king graciously re p lied

Great rivers swallow up small o n es N ow .

I h ave seen you r fa c es , I do n ot look on the

”
p resent s .

79
.
 W H IT E M AN OF WORK
The next morning the missionaries had a
second conversation with the king in the
presence o f all his chiefs and courtiers .

F or some reason M u tes a seemed suspicious

,

of them and began to inquire about General

Gordon of t he English army in Egypt H e .

wanted the white men to make guns and

gunpowder a t the same time confessing
,
“ ”
My heart is not good . The missionaries
told him that t hey had t o do as the letter
said and not to make gun s ; and that if he
did not w ish them to stay they would leave
,

Uganda F or some t ime he was silent then

.

asked : W hat have you come f or t o —

”
teach my p eo p le to read and write ?
‘ “
Y es
,
they replied and whatever use
,
”
ful arts we and those coming may know .

Then c alling his interpreter the king

,
“
said : Tell them now my heart is good ;
England is my friend I have o ne hand in
.

Uganda and the other in England

,
.

W hen t he missionaries reached their huts

after the morning ba raza !court ] was over ,

there came to them a messenge r from Mu

80
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK
he said he would give them o ne for a mis ,

sion house the other fo r a school

, .

“ ”
W hen will they be built ? thev asked .

To morrow my p eople shall go and bring

-

”
wood , and the king was as good as his
word ; fo r the next day the work began .

Such a welcome was most encouraging .

A fter a month s stay in the hut Mu tes a had

’

built for them L ieutenant Smith said

,

good by to Mr W ilson and started fo r the !

-
.

southern end of the lake to tell Mr O N eill .

’

h o w royally M u tes a had received them He .

expected to help Mr O N eill launch the mi s

.
’

s io na ry boat and pack supplies Then t o .

gether they would return to Uganda But .

their hopes were never realized W hi le on .

o ne of the islands in the southern p art of

the lake both Mr Smith and Mr O N eill

,
. .
’

were heartlessly murdered by the natives .

The terrible news was rep orted t o Mr .

Mackay before his oxen and carts had

reached M p wapwa H is cattle had been dy
.

ing three and four a day The dusky na

.

’
tives w ere d aily j eering a t the whit e man s
82
 R EC EPTI ON AT T HE ROYAL P ALA C E
failure H e himself had j ust recovered
.

from another attack o f fever Just at that .

moment he heard that tw o more of their

,

band had been taken from them .

Broken hearted yet believing in his God

-
, ,
“
he wrote to a friend at home O ur good
doctor my o wn dear friend o f many years
, ,

went to his rest nine months ago and ,

now these brave brothers Smith and O N eil l ,

’
,

have fallen There were eight o f us sent

.

out—
tw o invalided and four gone home !
O nly tw o remaining Poor A frica ! W hen
.

wil l it become a Christian country at this

rate ? But God has other hands in reserve ,

whom he will bring to the front fast and ,

unexpectedly and the work will go on

,
”
W hether w e break down o r not .

Since a wealthy Arab merchant had been

murdered along with the missionaries Mr , .

Mackay was afraid that the A rabs would

take revenge o n the king who had murdered
them Eager to p revent further bloodshed
.
,

he decided to hurry to the lake as fast as

p ossible .

83
 W H IT E M AN OF WORK
Bundl es and bags were safely stored and ,

Mr T yth erleigh was left to see that the best

.

tw o of the carts emptied o f all freight were

, ,

dragged to Mpwapwa Mackay himself .

sped forward as fast as p ossible F ive da vs .

of quick marchi ng wa ding and swimming

,

through j ungles swamps and rivers

, , ,

brought him t o Mpwapwa A brief rest and .

,

he was again on a forced march with only ,

s ix men to c arry outfit food and medicine , ,

.

Al though hurrying as fast as he was able ,

he s aw three months go by before he reached

-

Kagei a little town on the southern shore o f

,

V ictoria L ake .The body of hi s only white

companion Mr T yth erleigh was laid in a
, .
,

grave by the way Mr Mackay tramped . .

through jungles plodded along sandy des

,

ert s and p icked his w ay over stony stretches

,

till his fee t were blistered and bleeding .

Every s t e p was p ainful R epeated attacks .

of fever reduced him almos t to a skeleton .

Bu t o n the evening of the thirteenth of June ,

f orgetting hi s weakness and pain with in ,

t ens e j oy he stood o n the shore o f Vict oria

84
 W H IT E MAN OF WORK
with them they started o ff fo r the palace .

Mr Mackay will tell his o wn story o f their

.

reception .

“
Messenger after messenger came run
ning like madmen to hurry us o n but I was ,

determined not to give way to the frantic

behavior of these excited couriers and kept ,

a steady step A t length we entered on the

.

grand esplanade running east and west

,

along the tO p o f the hill and ending in the

palace at the west end The gates were .

opened the grand guard presented arms

, ,

and we passed along through t he double ro w

o f guards into a large hall densely lined
, ,

with courtiers A t the far end was a door

.
,

through which we were ushered into the

presence o f the king H ere he was seated
.
,

o n a mat dressed in a long white robe and

,

long black coat richl y embroidered with gold

braid H e bowed p olitely and stools were
.
,

brought for us to s it o n while some Turkish

,

dressed attendants squatted o n the ground .

An old woman sat behind the king a little ,

way O H, and watched inten t ly F or ten .

86
 R E C E PTI ON AT T H E ROYAL P ALA C E

minutes we eyed each other in dead silence .

Then a little talk began O ur gifts were .

presented and the music box struck up the

,
-

‘
fine air The heavens are telling from
, ,
’

‘
H aydn s ora t orio called Creation
’
.
’

“
W e talked with h im o n many subj ects
for an hour The king told us he had been
.

led to suspec t the coming o f Englishmen to

his count ry as a danger to his throne but ,

no w a year had passed since L ieutenant

Smith and Mr W ilson fir s t arrived and all
.
,

his intercourse with o ur party had only

tended to raise us in his favor .

“
A fter some time the king intimat ed that
he w a s too ill to s it long and gave us per ,

mission to go W e left the whole court ris

.
,

ing and following us down the hill small —

boys as usual forming a maj ority of the

, ,

spectators and followers In the evening .

the king sent u s no less than ten fat cattle as

a present and a man s load o f tobacco with
,
’

”
a like quantity of both coffee and honey .

This then was the sort o f reception given

bv K in g Mu tes a to the first English m is si o n
87
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
!

aries o f Uganda H e showed every S ign of

.

being glad to have them in his country H e

.

supplied them generously with food H e .

gave them huts to live in H e built them a

.

mission house and school building At court

.

he listened attent ively to their messages .

H e observed the Christian Sabbath and ,

welcomed Christian services at his court .

Every prospect w a s encouraging and with

,

gratitude the missionaries carried on their

work .

88
 W H IT E M AN OF WO RK
spaces left in the tiger grass walls for win-

dows The thatched roof w as shaped some

.

thing like a cocked hat ; and in front it ex ,

tended a few feet beyond the walls making ,

a sort o f veranda The rooms within .

,

formed by tiger grass p artitions were

-
,

broken up by numerous poles whi c h served

as roof supports and in the dark as obsta
-
,

cles to bump against .

M u tes a had given the white men almost

tw o acres of land and it was not long before
,

a num ber o f houses were built up on it .

W ithin four months after Mr Mackay s ar .

’

rival fi ve missionary recruits from England

,

reached the capital making in all a party o f

,

seven missionaries , A s homes for these

several other huts were built O ne man b e .

ing a doctor built a di spensary Where he

,

might receive his p atients Mr Mackay put . .

up tw o workshops where he might have a

school of mechanics A schoolhouse was .

king M u tes a s gift An extensive garden

’
.

was planted with vegetable seeds brought

from En gland F ive hundred banana plants
.

90
 W H IT E ME N AN D B LA C K ME N

were set o u t and the entire plot o f land en

,

closed by a tall tiger grass fence Before

-
.

long the missionary headquarters began to

,

be very attractive .

It is true that in such primit ive dwellings

not a few discomforts had to be u ndergone .

H ad the missionaries enj oyed anything bet

ter than a mud floor o r indulged in more
than a few pieces of plain furniture the na ,

tives would have become suspicious Y et .

the white men were ambitious to show them

selves true friends o f the black men and ,

s o every day it was their custom to eat

some plain native foods F requently they

.

would s it down in the home of a friendly

native o f Uganda to a meal o f meat and
bananas But try as hard as they might to
.
,

live plainly among the natives there were

,

many things about them and their actions

which seemed strange to the black men .

The large oval table was a most wonderful

piece o f furniture to the W aganda To us .

it would have seemed a very crude a fi air ,

for Mr Mackay had made it by s c rewing to

.

91
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
gether tw o big half oval par t s o f the st eam
-

laun ch and mounting them o n s ix poles

,

which were stuck in the mud floor Then .

too the black men were bewildered by the

strange fire !the lamp ] which the whi te men
kep t burning on the table from which they
ate The knives and forks also p erplexed
.

the natives who were accustomed to use

,
“
only their fingers fo r handling food Per .

“
haps they thought ,
,
these long stiff ,

things the whit e men eat with are a part o f

their hands They looked with curious
.

eyes o n the white men s clothes ; their ’

shoes es p ecially were beyond c o mp reh en

, ,
“ ”
sion . W hy is it , they asked themselves ,
“
that the Englishm en have whi t e faces and
hands and black fee t wi th t oes all j oined
”
into o ne ?
All these and other o dd cus t oms made the
W aganda flock in crowds t o stare at the
strangers and to watch t he things they did .

But after a few months had passed the ,

novelty began to wear o ff and the mission ,

aries were no longer feared The chiefs be .

92
 WH IT E M AN OF WOR K

W hen Mr Mackay s skill became widely

.
’

known mi scellaneous articles for h im to re

,

pair were heaped up on the bench in his

workshop N ative made steel hoes and
.
—

hatchets were given him to temper They .

said it was by means o f witchcraft that he

w a s able to put hardness into steel and then
take it out again N o kind o f wheel had
.

ever before been seen in Uganda and any ,

sort o f rotary motion seemed marvelous t o

the natives Even when one day he rolled
.

several logs up a hill great crowds followed ,

him crying M a a y lu ba e M a ha y lu ba re
,
“
h ,
r ’ .

“
! Mackay is the great spirit ;
Mackay is truly the great
O n one occasion M u tes a asked to see a
,

steam engine Mr Mackay tells the story

—
. .

“
I went up with o ne from the steam launch
we brought last trip the first article o f the—

kind ever in this p art o f the world The .

king asked many intelligent questions about

it I took a screw key with me to show h o w
.
-

the parts can be taken asunder when the ,

‘
king came o u t with o ne o f hi s pretty s ay
94
 W H IT E MEN AN D B LA C K ME N
‘
ings H e said W hite men s wisdom comes
.
’
,
’

from God They see the human body is all

.

in pieces j oints and limbs and that is W hy

— —

’
they make such things in pieces to o !
‘
A fter much talk he asked h o w white ,

men came to know so much did they al —

ways know these things ? I replied that once

Englishmen were savages and knew nothing
at all but from the day we became Chris
,

tians o u r knowledge grew more and more ,

and every year w e were wiser than we were

”
b efore .

“
I guess God will not prosper any man ,
”
the king said that does not please him
,
.

“ ”
God is kind to all Mackay answered , ,

but especially to these who love and fear

”
him .

“ “ ”
Eh Eh ! Y es Y es ] answered M u
, ,

tesa.

S o because of his mechanical S kill Mr

, , .

Mackay had an opportunity to teach M u

tesa and his court who the people are w ho
really prosper and become wise .

H owe ver , it did not satisfy Mr Mackay .

95
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
to have the crowds look up to him as the
great man who was able to make anything .

H is ambition was to gather pupils and to

teach them to make useful things for their
o w n people .

A t first Mu tes a woul d not allow any one

to be taught neither did the men and boys
,

wish to learn , fo r in Uganda it w as an honor

for a man t o be idle In that t ropi c al cli
.

mate and rich c ountry little or no work ,

needed to be done to O btain ab u ndan t crop s

o f fruits and vegetables T o support a .

large fami ly w ith their simple ways of liv

ing m eant little labor fo r the head o f the
‘

house W hat work was t o b e done was

.

given t o the Slaves and t he women A .

”
gentleman in Uganda , therefore had lit ,

tle to do but to order his slaves and wives

about and to attend the daily ba raza o f the
,

king T hat Mr Mackay was willing to

. .
‘

work with his hands was no t the least won

derfu l thing about him It required a long
.

time for him to tea ch them that a Christian

'

ought not to be an idle man .

96
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
The coming o f these pupils eager to learn ,

to read was most encouraging ; yet the mis

,

sionaries Opportunities for being helpful to

’

the W aganda were not confined to their

homes and the schoolhouse K ing Mu tes a .

was urgent in his frequent invitations to

them to attend the morning ba ra za at the
p alace and to tell him and his chiefs of the
,

ways of white men and their religion .

Every S abbath morning it was his custom to

hold a religious service in the palace At .

these times week days and Sundays the

, ,

missionaries talked o n many subj ects to the

king and his chiefs S ometimes it was
.

about the two countries , England and

Uganda .

“
Y ou would sometimes be amused to hear
the high idea entertain ed by the king and
”
people abou t their o w n country, Mr .

“
Mackay wrote It is only natural , however
, .

N o t long ago Mu tes a s a id to me :

‘
v
Mackay ,

when I become friends with England God ,

I n heaven will be witness tha t England will

not come to make war o n U g anda, n o r

98 .
 W H IT E M E N AND B LA C K MEN

Uganda go to make w ar on England ! And

‘
when I go to England he continued 1 shall
,
’
,

take greatness and glory with me and shall ,

bring greatness and glory back aga in .

Every o ne will say O h M u tes a is coming !

‘
, ,
’

when I reach England ; and when I return

‘
O h Mu tes a is coming back again !
,
’

O f course at such statements I only look

,
‘
very grave and say Just s o exactly
, ,
At , .
’

present !do not laugh ) M u tes a really b e

,

lieves that Uganda is the most p owerful

country in the world Though he fears .

Egypt he has often s p oken o f going to fight

,

against Colonel Gordon I have had some .

stiff ar guments with him on this point .

Y ou will unders t and that in such matters

I must be very careful A king that is .

used to nothing but flattery from his court

iers whose lives he can take at any mome nt
,

if they do anything other than flatter him ,

is no ordinary individual to speak plainly

to O ne needs a smooth tongue when speak
.

ing to him .

I do not mean to say tha t I am a fraid o f

99
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
him , but there is no use giving offense .

And yet the truth can be told although not

,

in just s o many words In sa c red matters

.
,

however I do very differently In teaching

, .

the relat ions b etween man and God I make

no mincing of matters W hen I have to say
.

what goes hard agains t heathen custom and

pride and love of self, I give my message ,

saying it is no t mine but God s c omm and

’
.

K ing M u tesa was quick to understand

what w a s explained to him ; ye t things which
are very comm onpla ce to c ivilized men he
had never heard o f before W hen Mr . .

Mackay told him in a simp le way about the

railroads and steamships and explained
,

what the tele p hone and telegra p h c oul d do

the king was greatly delighted .

This is the way M ackay summed it up

,
,

and Mu tes a w a s deeply impressed : My

forefathers made the wind their slave ; t hen
they enchained water ; next they enslaved
steam ; but no w the terrible lightning is the
white man s slave and a cap ital one it is ,
’
,
”
too !
1 00
 WH IT E M AN OF WOR K
coast Mu tes a was s o much moved that he
.

declared he would sell no more slaves to the

Arabs and the traders were obliged to sel l
,

their guns and cloth for ivory o nl y .

S ome days later, Mr Mackay took a book

.

o n physiology to the palace By means of

.

pictures he showed the king the different

,

parts of the body and h o w the blood c ircu

,

lates through them all He explained m a nv

.

th ings so that M u tesa might s ee h ow w o n

derfu lly perfect the human body is and that ,

no man o r group of men in all the world

“ ” “
could ever make one Y et he said the
.
, ,

A rabs w ish to buy these perfect bodies with

immortal soul s within them each for a rag ,
”
o f cloth which one man can make in a day .

Mu tes a w as convinced o f the wrong and ,

de creed that from that time no o ne in his

kingdom should sell a slave o n p ain o f death .

“
The best decree you have ever made ,

K ing Mu tes a said Mr Mackay : but alas

,
.
,

it was one thing for Mu tes a to make a de

cree and another to s ee that his words were
fai thfully carried out .

1 02
 WH IT E ME N AN D B LA C K ME N

O ften o n S abbaths Mr Mack ay read to

.

the king some o f the parables Jesus told .

O ne day he read the story o f the old gar

,

ment and the new cloth !L uke v h o w it

.

w a s not w ise to tear a piece o ff of a new

garment and patch an old garment with it ;
fo r the new garment would be S poiled and
the patch would no t look well on the o ld
gown .

S o he told the king i t was jus t as fool

, ,

ish f o r him to p atch up h is o ld heathen life

by doing a few Christian things It was .

no u s e fo r him to try to be a heathen and

a Christian a t the same time to keep o n ,

living with his three hundred wives and to

pretend to be a Christian ; to buy and sell
’
God s children as slaves and to claim to
,

follow Jesus ; to t reat his subj ects cruelly

and to order them killed for every little O f
fens e and still t o p ray a t Chris t ian service
,

o n Sunday .

Another morn ing at court Mr Mackay , .

read the parable o f the s ewer and the seed ,

and invited the king and chiefs to t alk freely

1 03
 W H ITE M AN OF WORK
together abo u t it M u tesa w a s so deeply im
.

pressed by the explanation o f the p arable

“
that he said to his chiefs I s a !Jesus ] was
, ,
”
there ever any o ne like him ?
S o a t the beginning o f their life in Ugan
da there was much t o encourage the mis
s io na ries. But King Mu tes a was not always
the earnes t interested learner he seemed at
,

first to be H e w as a king with tw o very

.

different f a c es and he showed whichever he

,

chose when the white men were present .

Shortly a fter Mr Mackay arrived in

.

Uganda the missionaries were surprised to

,

learn t hat a group of F rench Catholic

priests were o n their way to Mu tes a s land ’
.

O n their arrival the king received them

,

with his accustomed cordiality and pomp .

But from that time trouble began Protes .

tants and Catholics bo t h believe t hemselves

to be C hristians yet their beliefs about
,

Christ and the Bible are no t alike .

King Mu tes a seemed bewildered Every

.

”
white man has a different religion , he said .

“
W hat am I to believe ? W ho is right ?
1 04
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK
that M u tes a was very ill and did not expect
to recover ; that a meeting o f chiefs and
A rabs had been held at which it was de ,

cided to murder a ll the Englishmen should ,

M u tes a die .

R equests from the missionaries fo r per

mission to leave the country were persist
ently refused by the king F inally h o w .
,

ever he decided to send three o f his o wn

,

subj ects to visit the great Queen Victoria

and tw o missionaries w ere allowed to go as
an escort Two others o f the party left
.

Uganda to start missionary work in a city

several hundred miles south o f the end of
the lake and Mr Pearson accompanied them
, .

fo r a short distance to get supplies ,

F or .

some months Mr Mackay and Mr L itch

,
. .

field were left alone in Uganda .

Strange to s ay during these months K ing

,

Mu tes a turned about and S howed his bet

ter face In the many discussions at court
’
from week to week, he usually took Mackay s
part The Sunday servic es aga in w ere held
.

regul arly .

1 06
 WH IT E ME N AND B LA C K ME N

Mu tes a became enthusiastic over the sub

j
ec t of book knowledge and even com,

m anded all his chiefs o fficials pages and

, , ,

soldiers to learn to read N o o ne could .

quite explain the sudden change which had

come over him The mission house was b e
.

s eig ed by eager learners All day long .

Mackay and Litchfi eld were never without

pupils about them some of whom were wait
,

ing even at daylight It was fortunate for

.

them that the small printing press had ar -

rived L ong into the night they worked

.
,

printing sheets which during the day men

and boys were taught to read All the .

blank p aper they had w a s used and much of

their p ersonal writing paper ; yet the de
-

mand could not be satisfied .

O n his return from the southern end of

the lake Mr Pearson was greatly surprised
,
.

“
at the change in the situation O n several .

”
occasions when going to the palace
,
said ,
“
he I s aw small groups sitting under the
,

shade o f some high fence going through ,

their sheets ; on the way I met many c arry

1 07 .
 WH I T E MAN OF WORK
ing their sheets roll ed up nicely with a c ov ,

ering of bark cloth fo r the hand A t the .

court the chiefs sat waiting for the king to

O pen ba raza and passed the time with their
,

sheets .

“
I had one thought in my min d surely ,
”
this is the fin ger of God .

K ing Mu tes a would have done fo r a Chi

nese puzzle O ne S abbath in court in the
.
,

midst of the enthusiasm over reading he ,

made a sudden request o f Mr Mackay .

A fter the S cripture lesson was read he ,

“ ”
asked abruptly Can any o ne baptize ? ,
“ ”
N o w as the answer
,
.

”
Can you ?
N o but the clergym an is qualified to do
,

I wish to be baptized and my chiefs .

Mr Mackay told the king that only those

.

who were true Christians shoul d be bap

tiz ed
. Jesus had said as one coul d tell the
,

kind of tree by the fruit it bore so one ,

could tell a true Christian by the sort o f life

he lived Mr Mackay had not seen either
. .

1 08
 W H ITE M AN OF WORK

Mr Mackay told hi m that he would prob

.

ably not be able to get her for in England

,

no woman ever married unless sh e wished to

do s o
. At thi s M u tes a w a s very much s u r
,

prised and without mo re ado cour t was dis

,

missed .

L ike the t all grass ab ou t his own c ourt

yard when shaken b y the w ind Mu tes a ,

swayed back and forth uncertain in his a t

,

titu de towards his visitors .H e gloried over

having the white men in his capital because
o f the presents they brought and the things

they could do N o w he would favor the

.

F rench and again he would favor the En

,

glish so that he could keep them both in

,

the country The mi ssionaries knew no t

.

what to exp ec t of him o r h o w much to b e

lieve o f What he said Y et there was no
.

insult o r privation they were unwilling to

endure if only in the end Ma tesa c o u l d be
brought to be a follower of Christ .
 CH A P T E R VI
T HE KI N G AN D T H E W IZ ARD

A B OUT Christmas time in the year 1 8 7 9

there were tw o names which in the ,
,

’
region of Uganda s capital seemed to be o n ,

everybody s lips O ne was t hat o f Mu

’
.

kasa the great wizard who lived o n an is

,

land in Victoria L ake and the other w a s ,

the name of Mr Mackay The great wiz

. .

’
ard s name was always sp oken with rever
’
ence and fear ; Mackay s w a s usually coupled
with a curse Indeed many would have
.
,

been glad to s ee him tortured to death .

F or some time it had been ru mored that

the great wizard of the lake was o n hi s w a y
to the capital Month after month A rab
.
,

traders had tried to get away from the co rm

trv to take their ivory and slaves to the
co ast ; but when they w ent to the p ort o n
,

111
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK
the lake they were always refused canoes
,
“
because i t was said The great wiz ard o f
, ,
”
the L ake is about to visit the king The .

great spirit or god of Uganda was supp osed

to be living within this wiz ard, and fo r this
reason he was great ly feared .

M any other less powerful S p irits o r gods

were worshi p ed by the W aganda W hen .

the people were anxious about their crops ,

they went to the go d o f food ; when threat

ened by famin e they went to the go d of
,

famin e ; in time o f war o fi erings were m ade

to the god o f war ; o n o ther oc c asions it ,

was the go d o f the earthquake , or the go d

o f the pla gu e , or the god o f t he s mallpox ,

which w as most worship ed .

H ere and there along the roads ide under

, ,

some tree or in t he private courtyards o f

,

the chiefs were t o be seen the tiny huts ,

already described which were sacred to one

,

o r another of these gods In some o f them

.

dwelt the wizards and witches in whom the ,

S pirits or gods were supposed to live .

Very p lainly were these s t range folk

112
 K IN G AN D W IZ ARD

dressed usually in simple robes o f goat

,

S kins only ; and they carried clubs o f crooked

wood decorated with iron knobs and bells .

N o w and then a wizard assuming a high fal

,

setto voice would rave like a lunatic The

, .

people thinking that the spirit within him

was angry would bring him cows and chick
,

ens and goats as gifts and even a great m anv

p ots o f beer for the S pirits were supposed
,

to need very much to drink W hen offering .

such gifts the W aganda woul d be praying

the best kind o f prayers they knew while ,

the wizard would make them think more

prayers were needed .

These men and women o f magic also made

a great many trinkets sometimes simply
,

from bunches o f grass o r again from the

,

teeth of animals o r from o dd shaped stones

,
-
.

A fter mumbling mysterious words over

these trifles the sacred men sold the trin
,

kets to th e people as charms W hen worn .

about the neck o r ankles o r when placed

,

above the doorways o f the homes o r hung

about the tiny huts where they made their
1 13
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK
O fferings , the W aganda thought these
charms a protection against the numerous
evils over which the gods had control .

O f all these spirits the greatest was the

,

god of the lake If a chief wished to learn

.

what this god could t ell him of the chances

for success in some war shortly to be entered
,

up on he would go to the god s island home

,
’

in the lake There lived an old man

.
,

named Mukasa the god s wizard

,
’
.

The chief would meet the w izard in a

small dark hut where there was a little
, ,

wooden stool covered with a heap o f bark

cloth O n one end o f the leopard s kin o n
.

which stood the sacred stool the chief would ,

kneel and o n the other end the o ld wizard

,

would take his place A fter some time the

.

spirit would suppose d ly enter underneath

the bark cloths over the stool The wizard .
,

thereupon woul d be thrown into a frenzy

,

and woul d p our forth unearthly noises giv ,

ing the chi ef no w and then a word which

might be understood A fter being duly im
.

p re s sed by this weird procee ding the chi e f ,

1 14
 WH ITE MAN OF WORK
set up a mile and a half southwest o f the
’
missionaries headquarters Every day .

could be heard t he roll o f drums beaten in

his honor and men carrying dozens of loads
,

o f plan t ains from t he king to the W i z ard s

’

camp passed by t he missionaries house ’

.

Cattle c hickens , and even servants were sent

,

as presen t s t o him H e would heal the king

.

by a single word every one was saying

,
.

It woul d be some days however , b efore he

,

would make his way to the p alace ; for he

must wait f or the c oming o f the new moon
to begin hi s work .

These days of wa iting seemed t o t he mis

s io na ries most critical days Should king .

M u tesa re c eive this heat hen wizard at his

court he would be announcing to all his s u b
,

j ects that he had wholly rej ected the white

man s religion and was again as much a
’

heathen as ever in t he p ast To thi nk that .

perhaps their tw o years work would end in ’

such a f ailure was sorely disappointing

,
.

If ever they prayed earnestly they did no w .

Every o pp ortunity that arose they w ere de ,

116
.
 K I N G AND W IZARD

termined to u se in trying to persuade King

Mu tes a to refuse to see this heathen s o r
cerer .

The morning of Thurs day D ecember the ,

eleventh brought a day long remembered

,

among the court folk and the missionaries .

B a ra z a had already comm enced when Mr .

Mackay arrived . A fter various subj ects

had been discussed and seeing that M u tesa
,

w a s in good spirits Mr Mackay stepped for

, .

ward and s at down o n a stool before the

king .

“
May I have p ermission to ask o ne ques
”
tion of the king ? he said .

“
Mu tesa rep lied, S ay o n .

“ ”
W hat is a wiz ard ? he asked .

The question was a surprise to every one .

S ome were offended b ecause t hey believed in

,

the p ower of the wizard ; others smiled b e ,

cause they thought that the p eople were b e

lieving foolishness Mu tes a seemed to take
.

the question kindly and began to explain

,

what wizards were that in them lived the

,

spirit s o f the gods H e also said that the

.

117
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
remains o f his dead ancestors were guarded
by persons who were believed to be able to
talk with the departed S pirits and that at ,

times the Spirits o f the dead kings entered

into them .

Mr Mackay told him that there were no

.

living men who could talk with the spirits

o f the dead and that those who claimed they

could do s o told falsehoods that there were

,

many men o f that sort in Uganda but the ,

chief o f them all was the wizard Mukasa .

“
I believe you have little confidence in the
”
p owers o f such pretenders he c o ntinu ed
,
f

but I have heard that several o f your chiefs

have been advising you to go to the wizard
to be cured I sit before yo u your servant
.
,

and the servant of Al mighty God and in ,

his name I beg o f you have no dealings with

this wizard whether a chief tries to per
,

suade y o u to do s o o r a comm on man a d

,
”
vises yo u. The king did not seem to o p
p ose him and tr anslated his words to the
,

court.

“
M r Mackay continued : I f t his Mukas a
.

118
 WH ITE MAN OF WORK
that this Mu kasa w a s practically causing re
bellion in the country for he di sobeyed M u
,

tesa s orders and asserted his right over the

’
,

L ake a s before that of the king It w a s .

more than five months since Mu tesa had o r

dered his Arab traders to be supplied with
boats to go to U su ku ma !di strict o f Ka gei]
,

yet those t raders were not able to st art b e

cause o f M ukasa s coun t er orders
’
This
-
.

was a s t ate of thin gs that should no t be al

lowed to exis t In the B ook o f God I was
.

prepared t o show h im tha t b oth in the O ld _

and N ew Test aments all sorcerers were de

no u nced as liars and were ranked in the
,

lowes t scale o f iniquity Moses c omm anded

.

them t o be put to deat h In our own coun .

try in times past they were put t o the stake

, , .

But we did no t as Christians sanction s o se

vere a measure no r di d w e come here t o a d
,

vise the sheddi ng o f blood ; but s till o n look ,

ing at the exp ress command o f God as stated

in his B ook we did advise that every man
,

w h o deceived people into believing that he

w as possessed of a S pirit should b e ordered
1 20
 K I N G AND W IZ ARD

to cease such deception and if he chose to ,

continue it he should be sent to prison

, .

These men were great liars and Mukasa as , ,

the head wizard w a s the greatest liar , and

,

the greatest rebel in the country .

“
Mu tesa seemed rather delight ed at t he
decidedness with which I S poke and trans ,

lated everything even recurring to the other

,
‘
w ay I put it : If Mukasa is a god we have ,

tw o gods ; if he is a man , then there are two

’
kings here . Those who were at first in
clined to defend the evil genius had at length

nothing to s ay fo r him M u tes a s p rime .

’

minister mentioned tha t L ukonge called

him self god of the south end of the lake .

O ne o f the Arab s recommended waiting a

couple o f days to s ee what Mukasa had to
‘
s ay for himself W hat was to be done ?
.
’

was the question .

‘ ‘ ’
L ukonge is a heathen I said and , ,

knows not God .

’

‘
But I know G o d Mu tes a responded
,
’
.

Y es it is because yo u know God and I

, ,

believe wish to serve him that I no w ask ,

1 21
 WH ITE MAN OF WORK
you to choose o ne o r the other and not to ,

honor an enemy o f God In all history we

.

read that God w a s with every king that

feared him while those who went astray
,

after other gods came to an end of sha me .

‘
God has said Them that honor me I will
,

honor ; and they that despise me shall be

lightly esteemed
Some loads o f plan
.

tains and other dona

tions were at this moment presented and ,

other disturbances arising Mu tes a told ,

Mackay that the subj ect would have to be

dropped for the time but he would attend
,

to what Mackay had said Thanking the .

king the white man retired to his seat

,
.

W hen court was dismissed the mission ,

ary received many a friendly hand shake -

from the chiefs S ome of them who he

.
, ,

supp osed were the strongest advocates of

,

the wizard greeted him in a frie ndly way

, ,

although some of them gave him the curi

ous look o f those who felt thev had been de
feated .

Anot h er o p p ortunity came the next Sab

1 22
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
It was but a few nights till the new moon
would appear The following S atu rdav
.

however brought disappointing news Mr

, . .

Mackay heard from o ne o f his pupils that all

the chiefs had supplied men to build three
small huts fo r Mukasa and his companions
’
in the king s inner court and t hat they had
,

worked late by moonlight in order to have

them finished by Monday morning when the
wizard was to arrive .

There was still a little more d elay, h o w

ever and Mukasa did not arrive as soon as
,

w a s expected Mackay was given another

.

opp ortunity to speak to the king M o nda v

morning A few minutes after all were
.

seated fo r the baraza Mr Mackay arose and

,
.

s at down in front of the king squatting ,

like a tailor on the floor , a s all t he chi efs and

A rabs did .

M u tesa seemed t o know what Mackay

wanted to talk about and he gave orders for
,

all music and other noises outside the court

to cease at once .

“
Is it your p leasure K ing Mu tesa ,

1 24
 K IN G AND WIZ ARD
“
Mackay began that I should cease teach
,
”
ing the W ord o f God at court on S u ndays ?
”
N 0 not by any means
,
.

”
Y ou and your chiefs c ontinued M ac
,
“
kay , have now made u p your minds to
bring the Wiz ard to stay at court The .

other day your maj esty admit ted that he

was a deceiver I have no right to inter
.

fere with your orders or whom you choose

as your guest ; onl y t hi s visitor fo r whom ,

prepara tions are made is no or di nary guest

, ,

but is looked u p to by the p eople as p os

sessed o f p owers which belong to God alone ;
W e cannot mix up the worshi p o f G o d Al
mighty with the worshi p of a man who is
”
the enemy of God .

Mu tes a listened in t ently, and then said to

“
hi s chiefs ,
D o you hear wha t Mackay
says ? H e says that we cannot bring the
”
wizard here without offending God .

“
The wizard is o nl y coming with me di cine
”
to heal the king o ne o f the chiefs an
,

s w ered .

Mackay replied ,
The wizard is no t
1 25
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
merely a doctor but is looked up to by all
,

as a god and a s being able to heal p eople

,
”
by enchantment .

“ ”
The white man is right a dm itted the ,
“
king. I know very well that this Mukasa
”
is coming to use witchcraft .

“
W e should only be delighted if Mukasa
”
could cure the king continued Mackay
, ,
“
and neither I nor any other missionary
would obj ect to his bringing medicine for
that purpose .

“
G ab u nga !the head chief o n the lake ]
came some time ago to say that Mukasa w as
” ‘
able to cure me said the king
,
Bring his .

medicine then I said G ab u nga brought

, ,
’
.

some ; but said it was o f no use unless the

wizard were present himself to perform the
cure This and that other fellow says that
.

he is a wizard and that the S pirit o f mv

ancestors has gone into him ; but do y ou
”
think I believe that ?
“
I believe M u tes a has more sense than to
”
believe anything of the kind said Mackay , ,

f or when a man dies his soul returns to

,

1 26
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
I cannot hinder th e king from having
the wi z ard as many days at court as he likes ,

only I fi nd it my duty to tell him that his en

c ou ra ging t hi s false person will have a p o w

erfu l effect in the country in making the peo

ple believe more strongly than ever in

witches and wizards while K ing M u tes a
,

himself does not believe in them I take .

my stand on the W ord o f God whi ch says

,

that all who use wi t chcraft are enemi es o f

”
God .

Poor Mu tes a knew not wha t t o do H is .

mother and his friends had persuaded him

to have the wizard brought to his capital .

H e acknowledged that it would be wrong

to receive him ; yet he w a s afraid no t t o do
as his mother and his chi efs wished .

“
W e are all ready t o honor and res p ect
”
y our mother and your rela t ives ag
,
a in
“
Mackay urged but G o d is greater than
them all and you must choose whi ch you
,
”
will serve God or your relatives
, ,
. B a ra z a
was soon dismissed .

Ma ckay s last Op portunity t o p lead at

’

1 28
 K I N G AND W IZ ARD
came tw o days before Christmas .

all were seated Mr Mackay was , .

forward and a woman was brought

,

“
Mu tesa said t o M a c kay, T hi s woman my ,

aunt h a s been sent to bring you to the coun

,

cil o f my mother and others o f the family

, ,

that you may explain to them why you re

fuse to allow me t o see the wiz ard .

“
I will no t go t o explain at any other
” “
court than thi s M ackay replied
,
I do .

not refuse to allow your maj esty to see the

wizard : onl y as a servant o f G o d I warn
y o u of the s in o f witchcraft I use no force .
,

but as I told your maj esty yesterdav it w as

,

my place to t ell yo u the truth whi le you are ,

”
free to follow o r rej ect my advice .

Al l the chi efs began to t alk at once and ,

the king grew afraid not t o act as t hey

wished .

“
Mu tes a t hen said N ow we w ill leave
,
’
both the A rab s religion and the B azu ng u s
’

!whi te men s ] religion and will go back t o

’
,

the religion o f our fathers .

1 29.
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
O f course the chiefs were delighted fo r ,
“ ”
they boldly nya nz ig g ed !bowed ] when he
finished Speaking clapping their hands say
, ,
“ ”
ing I thank y o u !
Mr Mackay was asked why the mission
.

aries had come to Uganda and what they ,

“ ”
came to do . W e came Mackay a n ,
“
s w ered in response to the king s o w n re ’
,

quest to Stanley that he wished white men

,

to come and stop with him and to t each his ,

”
people the knowledge o f God .

“
I understood that you came to teach us
h o w to make p owder and guns and what I ,
”
want is men who will do so said the king , ,

in a show o f anger .

“
W e did no t understand that O ur first .

work is to teach the W ord of God and how ,

to read it .

‘
If to teach that is your main obj ect then ,

y o u are not to t each any more I want you .

”
to work for me .

“
Mackay replied W e never have refused
,

to do any work you have wished us to do ;

an d everyth ing the king has asked t o be
1 30
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
if he di d not receive the wizard and have the
o ld religion back they would take his throne
,

from him and make o ne o f his sons king .

“
Mr Mackay writes : Before dawn I was
.

awakened by a terrible beating of drums in

the neighborhood I go t up and looked out
.
,

in a dense fo g I gathered at once that it

.

was the pro c ession o f the wiz ard going to

the palace .

“
The sound of drums got nearer and the ,

united shrill cries of hundreds of women

became more di stinct and then faded away
,

as t he great procession turned up the high

way to the king s p alace I felt relieved
’
.

that the party did no t have to p ass our

house for who knows what a capricious and
,

fanatical mob might have done o n a mo

ment s imp ul se ? But I ret ired int o mv
’

room with the feeling that we were in the

hands o f our loving F ather w h o will not ,

allow a hair o f o u r heads to perish .

“
I afterward learned that the wizard put
up at the house o f G abu nga !head chief on
the lake ] w h o is no w at the capital till
, ,

1 32
 K I N G AND W IZ ARD

midday when he w a s received at the pal

,

ace T he k ing w a s removed from his ordin

.

ary house and seated in the main co u rt

, ,

where the three huts were built fo r the wiz

ard and his tw o companions By some re .

ports Mu tes a and hi s wives alone were in

,

side the house the ka tikiro sitting in the

,

doorway and all the other chiefs sitting ou t

,

side while the wizard also sat outside near

,

the door his companions sitting near him

,
.

“
Al l agree in saying that a vast quantity
o f beer was consumed by the wizard and

chiefs Mu tes a scarcely touching the liquor ;

,

that the king sat silen t all the time while ,

the wizard sang S ome say that Mu tes a .

paid little attention to the wizard but called ,

forward the small sorcerers to play and

dance before him F ew were near enough .

to know anyth ing that the w izard said or

sung ; but o ne man says that he pre di cted
war in the country from the presence of
strangers not no w p erhaps but within four
, , ,
”
or five years .

F o r several days the great wi z ard and his

1 33
 W H IT E M AN OF WORK

companions presented themselves at court ,

going through their chant ing dancing and

, ,

drinking as on the first day F inally the

.
,

last day o f the year M u tes a refused to see

,

the wizard again because the cure which was

expected had failed Mukasa was obliged
.

to leave and return to his island home .

S o the year ended K ing Mu tes a had

.

yielded to the persuasions of his chiefs and

relatives and had returned t o his old heathen
ways only to be disappointed again by the
false pretensions o f the heathen wizard .

W hat might next b e exp ec ted no o ne dar ed

to predic t
.

1 34
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

reading sheets among his chiefs and pages .

‘

A s a result some who because of fear had

,

ceased going t o the missionaries home no w ’

,

rene w ed their visits and others were made

,

bold to begin to study for the first time .

Yet during the months which followed the

W izard s visit the missionaries were very
’
,

much neglected by M u tesa H e no longer .

sent them p resents o f bananas goats and , ,

chickens and their supply o f cowry shells

,
-

for buying food became exhausted Most .

o f their clothes were either ba dl y worn or

had been p awned for food They needed .

also oil for their lamps paper for printing

, ,

and many other things not to be had in

Uganda .

So in April 1 8 8 0 Mr Mackay started o n

, ,
.

a j ourney to Uyui several hundred miles

,

south o f the lake where were other English

missionaries w h o had lately come from Eng
land with fresh supplies Some thirty .

days Mr Mackay and his comp anions spent

, .

“
in frail tiny barks made of rough hewn
, ,
”
boards sewed together with twigs and an
, ,

1 36
 M UT E S A AND M OHA M M E DAN S

other month w a s occupied in traveling over

land to Uyui D uring the time Mr M a c
. .

kay spent merely in go ing to Uyui their ,

nearest supply house perhaps five hundred,

miles from Uganda o ne could no w make the

,

trip from N ew Y ork City to Shanghai ,

China and return This trip kept Mr

,
. .

Mack ay away from the capital fo r nine

months Mr Pearson being the only Protest
,
.

ant missionary left in Uganda .

About three months after Mr Mackay .

had left the capital the fickle Mu tesa again

,

changed his religion O ne night he dreamed

.

that he s aw ten moons and an eleventh

which was both larger and brighter than any
o f the others The big bright moon waxed
.

more and more brilliant and grew larger

and larger until the ten other moons came
and bowed down before it W hile Mu tesa .

was wondering what the dream meant he ,

thought he s aw tw o angels stan di ng before

him and he w as frightened by their angry
looks.

“
W hy have you and your cour t ceased to
137
 W H IT E M AN O F WORK

pray the Mohammedan prayers o ne o f the

angels asked .

N o w all Mohammedans are t aught to pray

fi ve times a day In order that every o ne
.
,

may know just the time when the prayers

S hould be said a priest from the top o f some
,

high building calls loudly Ar abic words ,

“
which mean God is great I bear witness.

that there is no god but G o d ! I hear wit

ness that Mohammed is the Prophet o f G o d !
Come to prayers ! Come to prayers ! Come
to salvation ! There is no other god but
”
God ! Imm ediately every good Moham
,

medan no matter where he is o r what his

,

task believes tha t his first duty is to wash

,

his hands and kneel down to pray .

S o the angel said to M u tes a : If you

w ish to be p rosperous and your land to
grow return at once to this old custom and
,

call the people to prayer as the K oran com

”
mands .

O n telling the dream to his wives Mu tes a ,

was easily persuaded to think that he was

like the large moon and that soon ten ki ng
1 38
 M UT E S A AND M OHA MM E DAN S

doms would come to him and beg him to

rule over them .

O n meeting his chiefs at morning ba raza ,

the proud king repeated his dream to them

also Then and there he commanded them
.
,

all to obey the order o f the angels and to

pray ,
“
La ila ha illa Alla h M u ha mmeda n
- — —

,
”
R a s u l Alla h o ne of the creeds which
—

Mohammedans are taught and which they

repeat again and again The A rabic words .

“
when translated mean There is no god but ,

G o d ; and Mohammed is the Prophet of

God .

Mu tes a s command needed merely to be

’

given and the royal palace resounded with

the prayers of scores o f men who were ready
to follow any religion t heir king might
choose .

M u tesa announced that he himself was no

longer a worshiper o f the gods o f Uganda or
a follower of I s a !Jesus ] but from hence , ,

forth his religion was that o f Mohamm ed

,
.

In the Church within the royal enclosure

,

where only a short while before men had

1 39
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

p rayed to the L ord Jesus no w each day Mo ,

h amm eda n prayers were chanted Every .

chief wherever he might go was a ecom

, ,

p a nied by a boy carrying a mat and a ket

tle so t hat when the call to p rayer was
,

heard he might wash his hands and kneel on

,

the mat in obedience to the K oran .

S ome days after the public announcement

o f his new religion M u tesa declared that
,

since he had determined to follow the dream ,

he had been cured o f hi s long standing sick -

ness F or some time he held ba ra za regu

.

larly in t he grand style which had been hab

itu al years before but whi ch was set aside
,

after he began to suffer from his lingering

disease S oon however the malady p roved
.
, ,

as serious as before .

D uring thi s period when t he M o h amme

dans enj oyed the royal favor the Arabs ,

gloried alike in their o wn p ower and in the

seeming defeat o f their enemies the white
men .

’
O n Mr Mackay s return from the south
.

ern end of the lake they were ready to tell

,

1 40
 WH IT E MAN OF WOR K
ing two revolv ers h O p I ng fo r an O pp o rtu nitv
to kill the governor ; that it w a s very dan
g ero u s to allow him to remain in Uganda ,

f o r he was insane and only tried to murder

people They further declared that Mac
.

kay being very much afraid that the story

,

o f his crimes would reach M u tesa s ears

’
,

had o n that very morning given the S peaker

, ,

a present and o n his knees had besought him

not to make public the facts about his
wicked life .

W hen t he s t ory o f that morning s ba raza ’

was told Mr Mackay what were his

.
,

thoughts ? In his j ournal that night these ,

were some o f the words he wrote

G o d is over all and h e is o u r God and
,

o u r sole defense In fever when o ne s ’

,
.

nerves are weak many doubts arise in the

,

mind and through morbidly dwelling o n the

,

nu mber o f o u r bloodthirsty enemies faith ,

almos t fails Y et the fever subsides and

.
,

courage rises with better health and o ne ,

cannot but feel a deep inward peaceful con ,

s cio u snes s that , though we a re absolut ely

1 42
 M UTE S A AN D M O H A MM E DAN S
S hut o ff from every human help yet W e ,

have protection more secure than any con

sul can afford even the omnip otent arm o f
,

Jehovah .

“
F o r the terrible charges laid against me ,

some proposed in court that I shoul d be put

to death Even the charge o f carrying my
.

revolver is f alse for I almost invariably

,

march unarmed having only my umbrella

,
.

Mu tes a however said that the best thing to

, ,

d o w a s to send me home as being a raiser o f,

much noise and row in court H e knows .

very well that this charge too is unfounded , , .

O ne o f t he F rench missionaries compl i

m ented me o n the quiet manner in which I
talked with Mu tes a while A rabs and others
,

spoke loudly and excitedly .

“
W e now can understand to the full the
mean ing o f tha t blessing w hich we are
promised when men shall revile us and p er ,

s oente us and shall s ay a ll manner of evil

,

against us f al sely fo r His sake W e are .

H is and it m att e rs n o t w h at man c an do

,
”
to us .

1 43
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
The A rabs long cont inued to slander the
missionaries in t his way whenever it was
possible to do s o They took advantage of
.

the occasions when the missionaries were

not at court to make false charges agains t
them before the king .

O ne morning when a goo dl y number o f

them were present at ba ra za they said
, ,
“
The English are taking advantage of M u
tesa s illness Since you are unable to go
’
.

abou t t o see what is going o n in your king

dom the English are building a castle o f
,

clay which will become a fort ; and they have

many guns W hen they finish building they
.

”
will fight.

Mu tes a answered The English are a t

Zan zibar and have not yet taken that place .

Is it likely that they will begin fighting here

‘ ’
when they have not ye t eaten any part of
”
the coast ?
F ailing in their charge against the Eng
lish the A rabs next attacked the F rench
,

m en. Mapera has many guns , they said ,

“
and has bought fifty slaves and is t raining
1 44
 WHIT E MA N OF WORK

which they pray ? Is there no o ne present

who can rep eat their prayers fo r me to
”
hear ?
Mu fta being p resent was asked t o read .

“
H e read the p rayer beginning O ur ,
”
F ather which art in heaven .

“ ”
There ,
cried the Arabs what is ,

that ? Allah is not o u r F ather and who ,

ever s aw him in heaven ? D id we not tell

you that these people do not know h o w to
”
pray ?
The king then decreed tha t all should
pray as the A rabs did and that every o ne
,

who was found not doing s o should be

caught and killed .

L ater another di scuss ion arose at court

about the religions o f Christ and Moham
med Mr O F lah erty who had taken Mr
. .
’
, .

’
Pearson s place in the mission took the side ,

o f the Christians .

In what does the wealth o f Europe and

”
Zanzibar consist ? asked M u tes a of o ne o f
the A rabs present .

T he A rab ment ioned houses , lands , catt le ,

1 46
 M UT E S A AN D M OHA MM EDAN S
slaves ivory mer chandise pearls gold and
, , , , ,

silver .

“
In wha t does the wealth of Uganda con
’
sist asked M r O F laherty o f the king . .

“ ” “
O ur riches said Mu tesa lie in ivory
, ,

and women and c attle and slaves and

”
houses .

“
Mr O Flaherty replied Ivory w ill by
.
’
,

and by be all gone ; your women die every

-

day o f the plague ; your cattle get eaten up ;

your slaves die ; and you r houses why I ,

could s et them all o n fire with o ne match .

What will yo u have then ? All these things

perish I therefore advise yo u to seek the
.
, ,

true riches which are above and which can ,

no t pass away S eek fi rst to know God and

.

to love him with all your heart and then ,

you will have wealth which will last al

”
ways .

“
I want to have nothing to do with Jesus
“
Christ Mu tes a replied I want goods .

and women The religion o f Jesus Christ

.

will not give these to me so I will n o t have ,

it
. T he white men told me tha t G o d would
1 47
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
protect those w h o read the Book S miss i .

!L ieutenant Smith ] was a man who read

the book of Jesus Christ and he was killed .

D oes not Jesus Christ always abuse people ?

D id he not try to make the Jews accept his
religion ? But they would not have it and ,

killed him and scatt ered his followers I .

’
don t want the B aza ng a to come here with
empty words I want them to work and to
.

bring me goods like the A rabs If they will.

not make me S hips and cannon I do not ,

want them They tell me about God

. .

W ho ever saw God ? Ask t he B aza nga who

ever s aw G o d .

In answer Mr O Flah erty asked Mu tes a ,

,
.
’

D id yo u ever see p ain ? Y et you have cer

ta inly fel t i t and know what i t is D id you.

ever see the wind ? Y e t yo u know i t is

”
here or there .

S o the conversation c ontinued M u tes a s .

’

heart was bad and the missionaries were

able to do little .

A few days lat er t he Arabs invented

ano ther very c unning charge agains t the
1 48
 W H ITE MA N OF WORK
priests It cont ained a picture o f G o d the
.
,

F ather as an o ld man with a long beard

, .

The A rabs were delighted to have their

charge seemingly proved true .

But the missionary w a s ready with a re

“ ”
l
p y. That is not really a p icture o f God ,
“
he said That picture has been made to
.

help chi ldren to understand that God is ou r

F ather But yo u know that the F rench
.
,

men and we do not agree o n such things

w e have the same faith in import an t mat
’
ters but pi c tures we don t b elieve in a s
,

they do .

The evil stories invented by t he A rabs

were sometimes s o bad that they sound ri
dicu lou s Mr Mackay seemed to be more
. .

fiercely slandered than any of the rest .

The Arabs even made up this very queer

fable which they t ried t o u s e to Mr
, .

Mackay s harm ’

“ ”
A cert ain king they said had a fa v
, ,

o rite cat which w a s re p orted to have o ne

,

day eaten all the eggs The king however .

,
‘
s aid , It is my cat let it alone ; it must ea t
, .

1 50
 M UT E SA AND M O HAIM M E D AN S

N ext day it was reported to have eaten the

‘ ‘ ’
hens . L et it alone said the king it is , ,
’
my favorite eat ; it must eat A fter this it .

ate the goat s and then all the co w s ; but

,

still the king would not le t the cat be

touched N ext it ate up all the people and
.
,

the king s wives and then his children and

’
, ,

fin ally it ate up the king himself O nly o ne .

s o n o f the king escap ed by hiding himself .

Meantime the cat gre w and swelled to a

great size from having devoured s o m anv
,

things .

“
But a t length the one prince who es
caped succeeded in killing the cat W hen
, .

he cut it open he found all the eggs and

,

the fowls and the goats and t he cows and

the people and the wives and the king s ’

sons But in the a ct o f cutting the cat up

.
,

the prince accidentally wounded in the thigh

o ne of his brother princes inside the cat .

‘
This fellow got o u t and said W hat did y ou ,
‘
wound me for ? D o you no t see said the
’
,
’

‘
other that I have been doing you a good
,
’
s e rvic e in le t ting you o u t ? But he re fused
1 51
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

to be at peace and tried to kill the prince

,
”
who had let him o u t !
“
The wonderful cat is the English said
“
the A rabs ,
and the wounded prince who
wished to kill his d eliverer is Mackay .

Y ou Mu tes a have conferred every benefit

, ,

o n hi m but he means only to re t urn you

,
”
evil for good !
“
Co ul d enmit y and f alsehood go fur
” “
t her ? wrote Mackay in his j ournal But .

none of these things move me The L ord .

has preserved me many a time from the

hatred o f these revilers and wicked men ,

who for no reason at all delight s o to speak

, ,

all manner o f evil against me falsely It .

w as t his very morning that Pearson and I

read together at prayers the fi fty fi rst chap -

t er o f Isaiah
‘
I even I , am he tha t comfor t eth yo u
, ,

who ar t thou that thou shouldest be afraid

,

o f a man that shall die and of the son o f

,

man which shall be made as grass ; and for

g et te s t the L ord thy maker that hath
,

stret ched forth the heavens and laid the ,

1 52
 CH A P T E R V III

T H E NEW T EACH I N G M A KES N EW M EN

C T O B ERthe eighth eight een hundred ,

and eighty o ne was a great day for

-
,

the tw o English mi ssionaries in Uganda .

Mr Litchfi eld and Mr Pearson having been

. .
,

compelled to return to their homeland Mr , .

Mackay and Mr O Flah erty were alone at

.
’

the time in the mission The day brought .

nothing unusual but a letter addressed to

Mr Mackay
. .

The letter was shor t very short as it — —

contained but tw o sentences It was not .

beautifully written fo r the writer had never

,

had a lesson in penmanship The pen used .

w a s a p ointed piece of spear grass and the

ink had been made from pot soot and plan
tain j u ice N one of us could have read it
.
,

for it w as written in L uganda yet it ,

1 54
 T EA C H I N G M AK E S N EW MEN

brought Mr Mackay the best news he had

.

heard since reaching Uganda D uring all .

the three years he had spent in M u tes a s ’

kingdom not a single black man o r woman

,

in the country as far a s he knew had

, ,

showed that he truly wanted to be a Chris

tian This little letter bringing the good
.

news w as from o ne o f Mackay s first p up ils

’
,

a young man named S embera .

“
Bwana !Master ] M a cka v it read ,

Sembera has come with compliments and

t o give you the great news W ill yo u bap
.

tiz e him because he believes the words o f

,
”
Jesus Christ ?
N ever afterwards was Sembera ashamed
o f being a Christian D ay by day he lived
.
,

the sort o f life which convinced every o ne

“ ”
that he was true blue .Although only a
s lave boy he was ever trying to p ersuade
,

others to become Christians T w o years

.

after his baptism tw o young men whom he

himself had won bol dl y acknowledged Jesus
as L ord and Saviour ; and even his old
S lave mas t er be c ame a Ch ristian later , b e
1 55
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
cause Sembera his S lave boy had taught him
o f Jesus .

’
About a month aft er Sembera s note came ,

another bit o f imp ortant news reached the

missionaries A lame slave b o y named D um
.
,
’
u lira o ne of Mr O F lah erty s advanced
’
, .

pupils w a s missed for some time from the

,

daily reading class and the missionaries did

,

no t know what the trouble could be L at er .

,

when Mr O F lah erty was waiting in one o f

.
’

the courtyards o f the palace a lad stepped ,

up and handed to him a Gospel saying tha t ,

D um u lira had asked that it be returned to

the white man H is f riend D u mu lira h e
.
,

said was dead H e himself used to be a

,
.

follower o f the w i z ards , but now he no

longer believed his o ld superstitions T o .

prove that he was honest he showed M r , .

O F la herty that he no longer carried any

’

c harm about his clothes .

The change in the heathen lad had come

about at a time when hundreds o f W aganda
were dying of the plague W hile D u mul ira .

w a s S ick he asked his heat hen friend to go

,

1 56 ,
 W H IT E M AN OF WORK
think seriously of coming ou t bol dl y for
Christ .

The fi ve young men who were baptized

had all been pupils in the white men s ’

school for a long time and had repeatedly

,

expressed their determination to be follow

ers o f Jesus To make every one feel that
.

these young men were beginning a new life ,

they were given new names when baptized .

Sembera was no w called S embera Mackay .

T w o o f them had formerly b een known by

the name o f the o ld wizard of the lake Mu ,

kasa O ne was no w called Philipo for Mr

. .

O F lah erty who was called Philip o by the

’
,

black men ; and the other was named E d

wardo The fourth was called Henrv
.

W right for one of the missionary secre

,

taries in England ; and the fifth was named

Y ako b o meaning Jacob
, .

F rom this time o n the number o f those

,

who were earnestly seeking to lea rn h ow to

follow the white man s religion st eadily in
’

creased S ome w alked three four and fi ve

.
, ,

hours t o reach the missionaries home ’

.

1 58
T HE CHIEF TE A C HING HI S WH E S ’
 WH IT E M AN OF WOR K
priest arose and knelt at t he fee t of M r .

O F laherty
’
.

“
I will c as t o ff these charms o f t he
S pirit s whom I will never again serve
, he ,
“
cried . They are liars and cheats I will .

”
follo w Jesus and learn his ways O n say .

ing this he cut o ff the valuable charms he

,

carried about his p erson and t ook o ff hi s

pries t s robes and t hrew t hem all int o the
’

fire .

Soon aft er this the chief was ordered by

t he king to go to a distant part o f the cou n
t ry H aving been away some months he
.
,

sent his converted pries t back to the mis

sion house several days j ourney to ask for
,
’
,

a prayer book It happened that when he

-
.

arrived another p riest richly robed and

, ,

adorned with charms was talking with Mr ,

.

Mackay The heathen p riest was des crib

.

ing his di fferent kinds o f charms ; one he

had to keep o ff lightning ; o ne w as to heal
snake bites ; and others were to heal variou s
kinds o f sicknesses Mr Mackay finally . .

p ersuaded the man t o allow him f or a few .

1 60
 T E A C H I N G M AK E S N E W ME N
minutes t o have one of his most precious
charms which he carried o n his head O n .

handing it over to the missionary the wiz

ard cautioned Mr Mackay no t to place it
.

o n his head lest some dreadful c alamitv

shoul d be sent upon him by the go d This .

w a s the very th ing Mr Mackay did at the

.
,

same time addressing the crowd o f W a

ganda Expec ting to s ee Mackay smitten
.

dead o n the s p ot some o f the people were s o

,

frightened that they ran away The wizard

.

himself seemed interested and convinced o f

the folly of his belief .

Then the converted wizard s tepping for

ward bol dl y addressed the people H e told
.

them ho w he had thrown all his charms and

hi s priestly robes into the fire ; fo r he had
been led to believe in the L ord Jesus Christ ,

the Great H igh Priest of the true God .

Those present were deeply moved and ,

“
many went away asking themselves Is ,
”
not the Christian s God the true God ?
’

Thes e interesting and encouraging things

were happ ening while the W aganda every
1 61
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK
where were living in constant fear o f death .

The land was sorely stricken with the

plague much as Egypt was in the days o f
,

Moses W hen this was at its worst it

.
,

seemed as though there w a s not a single

house in Uganda where at leas t o ne had not
died.

The disease snatched several from the

noble Christian band T w o of these vic
.

’
tims young men o f the king s household
, ,

were expecting to be baptized in a few

months W hen smitten with the plague
.
,

however they were treated as were all

,

others and carried o ff into the jungle and

left to die Some friend learnin g o f this
.
, ,

wrote a not e to Mr O Flah erty which .

’
,
“
read H asten to such a place in R u b a ga
and bring with y o u some medicine fo r your ,

tw o friends are being carried away t hit her

”
smitten with the plague .

Mr O F lah erty hastened to them and

.
’
,

f ound them alone in the deserted place ; for

those who had borne them to the j u ngle
were afraid o f b e ing seized with t he dread
1 62
 W H IT E M AN OF WORK

u nder the tempting offer of his brother a ,

chief who promised him a wife the A fri

, ,

can s great desire if Philip o Mukasa would

’
,

only become his heathen priest H owever .

,

with his wife S arah he soon returned to the

missionaries asking that both might b e per
,

mitted to remain with them .

At all other times Philipo was true to his

God Even before he was bap tized he had
.

’
suffered persecution for the B a z u ngu s
!white men s ]
’
religion I t was when . M u

tesa because o f his dream had turned his

, ,

court into a Mohamm edan assembly A t .

the time Philipo Mukasa w as the j anitor o f

the church within the palace enclosure where
the chiefs began to go regularly t o re p eat
Mohammedan prayers Philipo Mukasa re .

fused to j oin them and said that the religion

,

o f Jesus which the white men taught w a s th e

only true religion W hen his words were

.

reported to the king the brave young man

,

was put in the stocks ; and Sh o rtlv after he

w ith another o f the missionaries pup ils w as
’

sent o ff bound into the country .

1 64
 T EA C H I N G MAKES N E W ME N
O n another occasion after P hilip o s re ,
’

turn M r O F lah erty w as to o ill to attend

,
.
’

court The missionaries were being slan

.

dered by their enemies who said that they

were bribing people to get them to come to
read and that they were running away with
,

the p alace women The king ordered everv.

pupil found about the premises to be

caught when Philip o Mukasa came heroic
,

ally to t heir rescue H e pleaded the mis .

sionaries cause s o ably at court that in

’
,

stead O f being murdered fo r his boldness as

he expec t ed the king and ka tikiro each
,

gave him a presen t o f cloth .

’
Philip o s wife S arah grew to be as noble
, ,

a Christian as himself W hen firs t brought .

’
to the missionaries home sh e was a ,

haughty savage who refused t o t ouch the

“ ’ ”
white men s food Can a woman learn ?
.

she asked when they tried to teach h er

,
.

S oon however she b ecame a good reader and

more than that a most helpful person about
,

the place O ne day she was seen working in

.

the garden with the other women .

1 65
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK
Sarah , asked the missionary who ,

told you t o work ; I thought you were above

”
working ?
“
I canno t wash and s ew like my white
” “
sisters in England ,
sh e answered I .

wish I could ; but I can prune and hoe and ,

the plantains which feed u s require both .

It is my duty to assist in feeding thi s great

family .

It was a sad night f or her and all the

Christians when Philip o Mukasa was smit
ten with the plague and died H is brothers
.

came to take away the corpse but the mis ,

s io nary and S arah refused saying that b e

,

cause they were Christians and Jesus was

their elder brother they were more closely
,

related t o Philipo Mukasa than his natural

brothers When his heathen relatives s aw
.

the fin e grave t he whit e men made and the

beautiful bark cloth and the clean white
linen in which they wrapped the dead body ,
“
they said Y ou have buried him a chief ;
”
we also wish to be your brothers .

D uring the larger p art of the year 1 8 83 ,

1 66
 W H IT E M AN OF WORK
The mi ssionary obj ected saying Stay ,
”
and learn you are my guest ; I ll feed you
,
’
.

“
Ho w can I while you labor ”
sh e an ,
“
s w ered
. N 0 you stay with us and t e a ch
, ,
”
us and we will go and cultivate
,
.

Unlike mos t W aganda husbands and

wives M w ira and his wife loved each other .

W hen baptized they chose for themselves

the names Y oh ana !John ) and Maryamu
! Mary ) from
,
the t wo Bible characters they
especially respected .

Before Mw ira finally said good by to the -

missionaries he attempted to describe h o w

,

he felt as a Christian man This is about .

what he said .

“
I am like a man traveling in a moun
ta inou s count ry H e climbs and passes
.

ridge after ridge with pleasure But as he .

surmounts each he looks before him to the

heights beyond, ea c h o ne loftier than those
he has passed and he becomes impatient
, ,

and wonders to himself if he will ever s u r

mount the last But there is one great dif
.

f erence The traveler in his desire hastens

.

1 68
 TE A C H I N G M AKE S N E W ME N

from the summi t o f o ne ridge to descend ,

that he may climb another height ; thence

he hastens o n till he cl imbs the last and
hi ghest . N ot so I W hen I climb I like
.

to lie o n the to p and res t and enj oy the ,

others before me Y es I like to rest and

.
, ,

drink o f the foun t ains that gush forth as

I cl imb O h the pleasure o f reading and
.
,

thinking upon these delightful books and ,

of meditating o n the wonders o f the S on of

God becoming man t o save men from evil
”
spirits !
So the number o f W aganda Christians
grew S ome were slaves some were chiefs
.
,
’
some were o fficers o f the king s household
and several were t he king s o w n daughters ’
.

By O ctober 1 88 4 eighty eight W aganda

, ,
-

had been baptized Black men women .

, ,

and children were being born again with

new hearts pure and whi t e .

1 69
 CH AP T E R I X .

’
M AC K A Y S Q U EER N EW N A M E

R M A C KAY was not an ordained

.

minister of the gospel but a mechanic ,

.

H is best sermons were preached by the

things he made with his hands H is s u n .

burned face told of the hours S pent ou t o f

doors as farmer carpenter o r bridge, ,

builder and his hands were blackened and

,

hardened by the heavy labor which was a l

most continually his Many a time he .

longed fo r more S pare hours in which the

bright lads who came to the mission might
be taught to read the Bible A t nights and .

in the evenings when o u t door work was im -

possible he would turn into schoolmaster

, ,

o r printer o r with the help of some W a

, ,

ganda boys he would make an attemp t at

,

translating p arts o f the Bible into L uganda .

1 70
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

missionaries ten times as much as the king

—

had given them at first T o raise for them

.

selves all the vegetables fruit and stock

, ,

they might need fo r food became their am

bitio n
. Thus they would no longer be de
p endent upon the favor o f a fickle king for
gifts o f food and for cowry s h ells to keep -

them from starvation .

It was no easy task to cut down the trees

and underbrush and to break up the soil s o ,

as to prepare these acres of wild land for

cultivation The natives never having been
.

used to the idea o f working fo r wages all ,

manual work being done by slaves it was dif ,

fi c u lt to get men and women to help in this

undertaking At first the blacks would only
.

beg and steal from the white men whether ,

any work had been done or not F inally .

,

the white men succeeded in getting a few

helpers to agree to finish a certain piece of
work for definite wages Some woul d work
.

a week for the payment of a very small

quantity o f cloth W omen who in Uganda
.
,

do all the gardening came to hoe and p rune

,

1 72
 M A C KAY S N EW NA M E
’

the plantain trees for a few cowry shells -

,

while half grown lads sometimes consented

for pay to do this woman s work ’
.

A fter months o f p atient labor fifteen ,

hundred plantain t rees were growing on the

land S p lendid crops o f maize millet
.
, ,

wheat beans p eas tomatoes and sweet p o

, , , ,

tato es were b eing gathered There was a .

fair herd of cattle together w ith goats and

,

chickens enough t o supply them with

—

meat Part o f the coffee t hey used was

.

raised on their o wn t rees and the cotton ,

they wove int o cloth was of t heir o w n plant

ing. F rom their o wn wheat crops the y
made flour and baked bread in a brick oven
devised by M r Mackay Plantain rinds
. .

were burned to make lye for soap making -

.

They even went so far as to make sugar and

molasses from Uganda sugar cane All -
.

these new forms o f labor the missionaries

did themselves o r taught the natives by p a
tient example .

To all the tasks o f various kinds involved

in farming was added that of building a
173
 W H IT E MA N O F WOR K
new home for the missionaries H itherto .
‘

they had lived in a hut o f native build .

O ftentimes the rain would drip through the

grass roof and on the moist mud floors
,

weeds and grass would insist on growing .

The lower parts o f the walls being shaded ,

by the roof and soaked by the rains soon ,

rotted Be c ause such conditions were s o

.

unhealthful Mr Mackay determined to

, .

build the best sort o f house he could with t he

materials at his disposal .

B ecause o f the rumors spread by the

A rabs tha t brick houses would be used as
forts he did not dare build o f that material
, .

S o the frame he made of wild palm the o nlv ,

wood in Uganda which can resist the rav

ages O f the white ants Between the beams
.
,

the walls were filled in with stones and red

clay and p lastered over both inside and o u t
,

side with p laster To protect these walls

,
.

from rain the heavily thatched roof was

,

made to extend some feet beyond them and

was supported by substantial pillars The .

tw o stories within and the stairway

174
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK
with it w as the only supply the W aganda
,

knew A fter a fearful plague had swept

.

over the land and the white men themselves

had been weakened by repeated attacks o f
fever they realized the urgent need for a
,

well o f their o wn where they could find pure

fresh water They decided to dig a well
.

within their own premi ses The men who .

were set to work with pick and shovel could

not believe that water could be found by dig
ging into the top o f a hill W ater coul d be
.

found only at the bottom they said ,

.

“
W hen we got too far down to t hrow up
”
the earth with a shovel says Mr M ackay
,
.
,
“
I set up a trestle of strong trees ; and with
rope and p ul ley and bucket much to the as,

to nishm ent of all the natives w e hoisted up ,

the clay till we rea c hed water j ust at the

,

depth I predicted The W aganda never

.

s a w a deep well before and would not b e

,

lieve that water could be had on a hillside

until they saw the liquid itself It took .

more than a week to sink the well ; but when

I afterwards re p aired a ba t tered p ump
1 76
 M A C KAY S ’
N E W NA M E

which I bought in L ondon and they s aw a ,

C O p io u s stream ascend twenty feet high and ,

flo w and flo w as long as o ne worked the

,

han dl e their wonder and amazement knew

,

no bounds .

“
M a ka y lu ba re ! M a ha y lu bare dala ! ”

w as cried by all !Mackay is the great .

spirit he is truly the great spirit ] But I

,

told them that there was only o ne great

Spirit that is God and I was only a man
, , ,

like themselves T o e ac h company that

.

came near I explained the action o f the

pump some un derstanding best when I said
,

that it was only a sort o f elephant s trunk ’

made of copper To others I explained.

that it was only a beer drinking tube on a -

large scale with a tongue of iron that

,

sucked up the water as their tongues ,

sucked up the beer from their gourds .

“
O h the B a za nga the B aza nga they are
,
’
,
.

the men ; they can do everything ; the Arabs

and coast men know nothing at all ; they can
only draw water in the swamp where we get
it ourselves ; but o h eh eh Mackay is , , , ,

1 77
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK
clever clever ; the k ing will get them to
,
”
carry him to s ee this wonderful thin g .

“
Very seldom was the white man o f
”
work unwelcome at court when he had
time to go Because of the wonderful
.

things he made he became very p opular

with the king O ne day he brought to the
.

court a diamond and showed the king h o w

glass is cut H e also exhibited a yoke and
.

explained how oxen are harnessed s o that

they may be used fo r drawing loads .

“
There must remain nothing for white
”
men to know they know everything ! said
—

Mu tes a in his astonishment .

“
W e know yet only the beginning o f
things Every year we make advances in
.

”
knowledge Mackay replied
,
.

“
Can W aganda ever become clever like
”
the B azu ng u ?
“
Y es and yet even more clever
,
.

“
The king laughed and said ; I don t b e ’

”
lieve it . O f course the chiefs laughed to o
, ,

as they always did whenever the king

laughed .

178
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
were lou dl y beaten to frighten away the
“ ”
king of terrors who they feared might
, ,

escort her departed S pirit into the un seen

world In Uganda only the souls o f kings
.
,

and great men and women were sup posed to

live after death Special care was there
.

fore taken at royal burials to give the dead

due honor ; for their spirits were supp osed
to enter int o certain persons who then b e
came witches and had the p ower i f angry , ,

to do great evil to men The story of the .

co ffin and the sermon he p reached through

“ ”
its making the white man of work him
,

self will tell .

The royal mourning lasted a month

during which time no work was allowed to
be done in the land N o boat could start
‘

nor any one carry a load until the queen ,

w a s buried . But while others were resting ,

I was toiling hard night and day for thi rtv ,

days fo r all were waiting for me

,
.

“
The morning after N am as ole died M r ,
.

O F lah erty and I went to court to pay our

’

res p e ct s t o the king Al l the chie fs were

.

1 80
 M A C KAY S N E W NA M E
’

clad in rags and crying o r rather roaring

, , ,

with their hands clasped above their heads .

Mu tes a determined to make a funeral to

surpass in S plendor any burial that had ever
taken place in the country Such is the de .

s ire o f every king to outstrip his p re deces

sors F ifty thousand bark cloths were o r

.

dered to be levied in the land besides some ,

thousand of yards o f English calico .

“
Mu tes a asked me h o w we buried ro yaltv
in Europe ? I replied that we made three
co ffins the inner of wood the next of lead
, , ,

and the outer of wood covered with cloth .

I knew the custom o f the W aganda in bury

ing their kings It is to wrap the body
.
,

after mumm ifying it in several thousand

,

bark cloths and to bury the great pile in a

,

huge grave building a house over all and

,

appointing certain witches to guard the

grave for generations .

‘
W ould you be able to make the three
c o ffins ? Mu tes a asked me
’
.

“ ‘ ’
I replied Y es if you find the material
, ,
.

H e said he had no lead but he had a lot

1 81
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
of copper trays and drums which he would
supply if I could manufacture a co ffin Ou t
,

o f them .

F requently we had been twitted by the

king at court fo r failing to work for him
accordingly I agreed to be undertaker
thinking it a small affair But then the di .

m ensio ns ! Everything was to be As LAR GE

A s P O SS IB LE ” Im mediately all the C opper
’
in the king s stores w as turned o u t and sent
down to o u r mi ssion F ine large bronze
.

trays o f Egyptian workmanship C opper ,

drums copper cans and copper p ots and

,

plates all were produced and o u t o f

—

these materials I was to make a coffin fo r

the queen Al l the skilled workmen were
.

ordered to my assistance .

N ext morning I went o ff t o R usaka some

three miles distant to m easure the b o dv
,
.

Much obj ection was m a de by the royal

l a di es there at my going in to measure the
corpse But my friend Kyamb alango was
.

there as m aster o f ceremonies and he ex

, ,

p lained that I was commissioned by the

1 82
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK
sheets o f copper plate whi ch the king paid ,

for at once in ivory as we did not think ,

well to give these away ou t of the mission s ’

stores W e gave our workmanship and

.

skil l and time besides the tools and all the

, ,

iron nails !no small quantity ) W e re .

c eiv ed cop p er wire as an equivalent for th e

C opper tacks . Even the copper coffi n w e

neatly lined all over inside with white cali c o
tacked onto laths which were firs t riveted to
the copper plate .

“
It is nee dl ess to describe the worry and
trouble we had working late and early and
, ,

sometimes all the night A t ev erv hour o f .

the day pages were sent down to inspect the

progress and a sk when it woul d be done .

The native workmen especially the head ,

men among them would do almost nothing

, ,

and generally spoiled what they did They .

p referred sitting down all day smoking and ,

watching how I did I was able to get some

.

assistance however , from several o f the

,

yo unger fellows .

“
But even I n the do ing o f a small p ie c e
1 84
 MA C KAY S N E W NA M E
’

of work like this which all granted w as far

,

beyond their o w n powers to accomplish ,

there must needs be an exhibition o f j eal

o u s y and ill feeling o n the p art o f some

chiefs and Arabs .

“
They t old the king that we made the
co ffins small, much too small fo r N am aso le ,

because w e want ed the timber to finish our

o w n house with ; that w e had already se

c reted in o u r house a lot of boards ; that

perhaps we mi ght S how good workmanship ,

but we c ould not work fas t .

“
Mu tes a alone s t ood ou r friend H e re .

fused to believe that we had appropriated

any boards while he said to o u r accusers
,

that what was done well could no t be done

‘
in a day . Can a woman cook plantains
well i f you hurry her ? asked the frien dl y
’

king.

“
In a week s time w e had ab out a hun
’

dred boards cu t and squared to fit and ,

nailed toge ther with s t rong ribs l ike the

sides of a schooner W hen together it
.
,

looked like a small house rath er than a ,

1 85
 WH I T E M AN OF WORK
coffin A fter a few more days we had
.
,

enough boards for the lid Then we c o v .

ered the whole outside with native bark

cloth and lined the inside with pure snow
,

white calico Each side was made a piece

.

by itself s o that it might be easily carried .

A thousand men arrived to bear the parts to

the grave and most fortunately it did no t
,

rain W e put them together before the

.

king who challenged all to say if such

,

workmanship could be done in th e country

by W aganda o r if anything of the kind had
,

ever been seen in the land .

“ ’
N ext day we had the king s orders t o go
to the burial H e wanted us to go the same
.

day but we were too tired having fo r a full

, ,

month been constantly at s aw and hammer

from dawn to midnight and often later ,
.

“
The grave was a huge pit s ome twenty ,

feet by fifteen feet at the mouth by about ,

thirty feet deep It was dug in the center

.

o f the late queen s sleeping house a mon

’ - —

strous hut some o ne hundred and fifty feet

in diameter The monster p it w as neatly
1 86
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK
in charge carried the coffi n to the court
, ,

where the grave house w a s when much

-
,

more yelling took place I screwed the lid .

down but such w a s the affection o f some o f

,

the royal ladies fo r the d eceased that I had

to have t hem ordered away because o f their ,

crying and tears and hugging of the coffin ,

before I coul d get near t o p erform my

duties as undertaker .

“
Then came the C op p er c offin, int o which
the other was lowered by means o f a huge
S heet The lid o f that had to be riveted
.

down and that p rocess was new t o the

,
‘
chiefs s t anding by H e cuts iron like
.

’
thread ! they said, as the p incers snapped
‘
the nail s .M a c kay is a p roper smi th ! they ’

all shout e d .

“
W ith no me c hanical c ont rivan c es , it was
astonishi ng how they go t the copper coffin ,

with its p onderous contents lowered into ,

the deep grave without letting it fall end

foremost into the great b o x below The .

task was efi ected however by means o f the

, ,

great mul titude o f men .

1 88
 WH IT E MAN OF WOR K
King Mu tes a was proud to think that in his
kingdom s o wonderful a piece o f work was
p ossible Mackay had won his good will as
.

never before and was longing and praying

,

that at last he might be used to win M u

’
tesa s heart for the L ord Christ .

It was shortly before Christmas that his

great O pp ortunity came to plead with the
king This is the story of what t ook place
.

as Mackay tells it .

“ ’
In the king s b a raz a strangers were
,

called forward to describe burial customs in

various p arts of A frica and Arabia S ome .

told of burying scores o f living virgins w ith

a dead king ; others told of h o w human lives
were offered as sacrifices o n l ike occasions ;
while others told of the p omp and ceremony
displayed at funerals .

‘
Turning to Mackay the king asked ;
,
‘
Tell me h o w they bury in your country ?
D o they do as I did in burying N am as o le ?
’
D id y o u s ee any human sacrifices then ?
“
Masudi !an Arab ) began to describe to
me how when Mu tes a s grandfather died
’
,

1 90
 M A C KAY S N E W NA M E
’

his father had thousands slaughtered at the

grave .

‘
D on t mention such things I said to
’
,
’

Masudi with such a gesture o f horror that

,
‘
he became quiet at once ; they are to o cruel
to be S poken about before the M u tesa o f t o
day Y ou Mu tes a far surpass any o ne not
.
, , ,

only in A frica or in A rabia o r in India

, , ,

but even in Europe itself I never heard .

of so mu ch valuable cloth being buried in a

royal grave as you buried with N a m a s o le .
’

This of co u rse pleased him as black men

, , ,
‘
are fond o f flattery But let me tell you
.

that all that fine cloth and those fine co ffins

will o ne day all be rotten It may take ten .

years o r may be a hundred years o r it may

, ,

be a thousand years ; but some day all will

be rotten and the body inside will rot to o
,
.

N o w we know this hence in Christian coun

,

tries we s ay that it matters little in what

way the body is buried for it will ro t some ,

time o r other ; but it matters everything

what becomes o f the soul L ook at these .

tw o head chiefs o f yours S itting by you .

1 91
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK
The katikiro is your right hand and K yam
balango is your left hand They are both .

very rich N ext to yo u they are the great

.

est in the kingdom They have cloth and

.

cat tle and lands and women and slaves

very mu c h o f all H ere they have much
.

honor and when they die they w ill be buried

,

with much honor, but yet their bodies will

o ne day ro t .

‘
N ow le t me have only an old bark c loth ,

and no thing more o f t his world s riches a nd ’

,

I would not exchange my place fo r all the

wealth and all the greatness of bo th the ka
tikiro and Kyamb alango Al l their great
.

ness will pass away and their souls are lost

,

in the darkness o f belief in the wizards ,

while I know that my soul is saved by Jesus

Christ the S on o f God , s o that I have
,

riches that neve r p erish which t hey know

’
nothing about .

“
The katikiro evidently s truck by my
,

contempt of all his greatness replied that ,

M u tesa w a s a believer in Jesus Christ while ,

he w as a servant o f M u tes a consequently ,

1 92
 WH IT E M AN OF W O RK

king did no t heed the Christian plea H is .

health grew worse continually W eak and

.

suffering intensely he was unable to hold

,

ba ra za. T w o years after his mother s pom

’

p ous funeral,
he to o died and
,
died a hea
then.

1 94
 CH A P T E R X

T H REE B OY H ERO ES AN D O N E B O Y TYRA N T

US Y writing home letters o ne night in ,

O ctober 1 88 4 Mr O F laherty for

, , .
’

hours had been the o nl y o ne astir in the

’
missionaries home F rom his upstairs .

window in the midnight stillness he heard

, ,

some o ne below softly calling his name ,

“ ”
Bwana Philip o ! Bwana Philipo Slip .

ping down stairs he found a native Chris

,

tian with a friend who under cover of the

,

night had run to break the news whi ch the

missionaries had long dreaded to hear .

” “
“
King Mu tes a is dead they said fo r , ,

tify yourselves ; the mission house will

probably be plundered and who knows h o w ,
”
many may be murdered ?
Mr O F lah erty returned to the house and
.
’

woke Mr A she w h o shortly before had ar

.
,

1 95
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK
rived as a new missionary in Uganda Mr . .

Mackay was down at the p ort o n the lake ,

twelve miles away overhaul ing the new mis

,

sion boat A s the two men talked and

.

prayed t ogether seeking to know the wisest

,

step to take no w and again the quick beat

,

o f drums was heard while every gust of

,

wind sweeping across t he valleys bore the

weird cries o f the palace mourners .

Jud ging from the amount o f wailing at

court o ne might supp ose the late monarch
,

had been greatly beloved by his subj ects ;

but a glance behind the scenes before his
death might have led to a different O pinion .

The direct cause o f M u tes a s death will ’

’
never be known Some said that the A rab s
.

me di cine had proved to be a p oison instead

o f a cure ,
whi le others reported that the
king had been smothered to death by some
o f his o w n W ives If either of these reports
.

be true we may be sure that those who took

,

his life were among the loudest mourners .

It w a s an anxious night for all who had

heard the news F o r generations , the death
.

1 96
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
ous chiefs and Arabs from driving them
from the land long ago W hat was there .

no w to keep a bloodthirsty mob from attack

ing them from burning their houses from
, ,

plundering their gardens and from sending ,

them out o f the country o r perhaps tortur

ing them to death ? And would their faith
ful Christians have to suffer with them ?
W ith these thoughts o f p ossible danger the ,

missionaries prayed to the F ather ; and

trusting in his protection they waited for ,

the morning .

Early the next day tw o messengers ar

,

rived from Mr Mackay who when they left

.
,

the lake had not yet heard the news The

, .

men having been robbed o f their clothing

,

o n the way and compelled to flee for their

lives were in a sorry plight o n reaching

,
’
the missionaries home In the meantime .
,

Mackay worked hard all day at the boat .

At sundown when he was about to have his

supp er o f plantains he saw the people o f
,

the place coming toward him armed with

S hields and s p ears O n hearing the all im
.
—

1 98
 T HR E E B O Y H E RO E S

portant news he immediately launched the

,

mission boat so that the entire party might

quickly escaped if the mission house was
burned as those who reported the king s
,
’

death assured him it would be .

But thanks to the ka tikiro who became ,

the ruler until the new king was chosen ,

the slaughters and thefts which all expected .

were checked Probably some lives w ere

.

taken but these were comparatively so few

,

that the missionaries knew nothing o f them

until later In the council o f the great
.

chiefs the question was debated whether or

,

not both the missionaries and the Arabs

should be attacked In this council some
.
,

were eager to rush at once to the plunder ;

but it was the word of the ka tikiro which
held them in check and which saved the
lives and property of the foreigners from
the hands o f their enemies .

But who w as to be the new king ? The

people waited breathl essly fo r the decision
o f the council o f the great chiefs W hen .

the announcement was made a great cheer

,

1 99
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

ing arose from the palace and some Chris ,

tian boy escaped from the crowd unnoticed

and ran to tell the news to his whi te friends .

“ ”
M w ang a a lide B u g anda !Mwanga .

has eaten Uganda ) he said ,

.

To the missionaries thi s seemed good

news Mwanga was a lad about eighteen
.

years of age who looked more like his father

than any o f his brothers D uring Mu tesa s
.
’

reign he had occasionally visited the mis

,

s io naries and had learned a l ittle of read

ing.

If you should b ecome kin g o n your

”
father s death h o w will y o u treat us ?
’
,

Mr A she had once asked hi m when the boy

.

was p aying a visit to the missionaries .

“
I shall like you very much and show ,

you every f avor was the reply

, .

H owever i t s p oiled Mwanga t o be made

,

king of Uganda D uring M u tes a s lifetime

.
’
,

his sons had no power livin g lives but lit

,

tle better than t hose of the or di nary blacks ;

now while still only a boy Mwanga was
, ,

made the grea t king o f Uganda and he knew ,

2 00
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK
until some days later ; and for this neglect
they were chided by Mwanga .

The second day after Mu tes a s death was ’

“
a nnounced the , white man o f w o r was
called from repairing his boat by the chiefs
who found they could not build the dead
‘
king s c o flin without the help of the white
’

men A s soon as this work w a s completed

.
,

Mackay returned to the lake shore W hile .

he was absent from the capital his enemies ,

busied themselves circulating slanderous re

ports about him They said that having
.
,

slept in the boa t at night he came ashore in

,

the morning and stole the people s plantains ’

and goats The fact o f the matter w a s that

.

the boat was beached at the time receiving ,

a coat o f p aint and Mackay was ill with

,

fever in hi s tent .

Mwanga had no t long been king when the

rumor was brought to his court that an a rmv
o f white men was marching to Uganda by

way o f the land o f U s o ga U s o ga was a

.

country just east of Uganda the only neigh

,

b or of which the king was really afraid .

202
 T HR EE B O Y H ERO E S

F or generations the prophecy had been

handed do w n among the W aganda that
“ ”
some day Uganda would be eaten up
! conquered ) by enemies entering the coun
try from the eastern side through U s o ga ,
”
the back door .

N o w there were many reasons to make

,

Mwanga begin to think that the foreigners

who were coming were enemies H e had .

heard o f fighting o n the part o f the English

in Egypt to the north N ews reached .

him that the Germans !to him the same as

the English ) were fighting fo r land in the
,

region o f Zanzibar ; after gaining their

prize there he expected them to march in
,

land conquering a s they came In addi

, .

tion he had been told o f English and Ger

,

mans who were living at the southern end

o f Victoria L ake N o w worst o f all there
.
,
,

w a s an army o f white men in U so ga .

Surely the Englishm en already in Uganda

,

were part of t hi s great force and after hav

ing gathered a large number of followers
in hi s k ingdom, they woul d u nit e wi th the
203
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
”
army in U so ga and eat up the land A .

spark was all that w a s needed to fire these

suspicions This S park w a s supplied by
.

Muj asi the captain o f the king s body

,
’

guard who had long been a bitter enemy o f

,

the missionaries .

O ne day Muj asi no ticed a lad formerly ,

’
a follower of his repairing the mi ssi onaries
,

fence H e comp lained to the katikiro that

.

the whit e men were ruining the country

that they paid men to work fo r them so ,

tha t the chiefs like himself could no longer

get workers fo r nothing A few days later
.
,

several Christian lads the servants of a cer

,

tain chief attended the comm union service

,

on S abbath at the mission instead o f thatch

ing a roof fo r the chief B ecause o f this
.

complaints were made .

M w anga s mother hearing of what had

’

happened exaggerated the report by saying

,

to the ka tikiro that no chiefs could get

work done because the missionaries were
,

induc ing hosts o f people to serve them with

the p ur p ose o f raising an army o f rebellion .

20 4
 W H IT E MA N O F WORK

no w and then they met companies of men ,

armed with S pears hurrying past them ,

.

R ecognizing o ne o f the men Mr Mackay ,

.

asked him where the soldiers were going .

H e looked a little confused but replied that

they had been ordered by Muj asi to capture
some o f the king s women who had run ’

away The company walked o n until they

.

were within a couple of miles o f the lake .

They were just entering a bit o f scrubby

forest when a force o f several hundred men
,

headed by Muj asi himself sprang up on

them . A rmed with guns S pears and , ,
”
shields they shouted G o back ! go back !
, ,
“
W e are the king s friends we have re ’
,

c eived the king s leave Ho w do you dare

’

” ’
to insult the king s g u ests ? the mission
aries asked as they tried to proceed A t .

this the crowd rushed upon them snatching ,

from them their walking sticks their only ,

weap ons and j ostling them about in everv

,

direction Mackay and A she did not a t

.

tempt to fight but calml y s at d o wn by the

,

S ide of the p at h .

20 6
 T H R EE B OY H ERO E S
”
W here are you going ? demanded Mu
j asi
.

“
W e are going to the p ort having been ,

given the permission o f the king and kati

”
kiro .

“ ”
Y ou lie he replied
,
W here is the .

”
W aganda messenger to go with you ?
“ ”
W e have none was the answer , .

A gain the crowd o f warriors rushed upon

them pulled them to their feet and pointed
, ,

the muzzles of their guns right at the white

men s breasts The captives however said
’
.
, ,

nothing but quietly abandoning the trip to

,

the lake they reversed their steps thinking

, ,

this was merely a mad freak of Muj asi s ’

,

and never suspecting that he was acting u n

der the king s orders The m o b continued
’
.

to yell at them to mock and to abuse them

,

with the most offensive language until they ,

tired o f hearing their o w n voices seeing ,

that the missionaries walked quietly o n .

W hen they finally c ame to the p oint

Where tw o roads met o ne leading directly to ,

M en g o Mw anga s new c ap ital the o ther t o

,
’
,

20 7
 W H IT E M AN OF WORK
the missionaries home they halted until
’
,

the crew and the five Christian boys over

took them The crew after being robbed o f
.
,

their guns were freed while the five Chris

, ,

tian boys were marched along with their

hands bound The missionaries were then
.

told to go ba c k to their o w n home and the ,

W aganda boys under guard were marched

o ff to t he c apital
’
. It was no w three o clock
in the afternoon and the missionaries had
,

been walking for five hours W earied and .

disap pointed they s at down to consider

,

what should be done next Mr Ashe tells . .

the story o f what then happened :

“
W e decided to lose no time but to lay ,

the whole mat ter at once before the kati

kiro W hen we reached his enclosure w e
.
,

were bidden to wai t N o o ne dared to an

.

nounce o u r presence to the katikiro as Mu ,

j asi was having a private interview with

him reporting his success in the late en
,

counter A fter waiting some time , we got

.

up and went to the doorway and Mackay ,

called o u t lou dl y Ka tikiro , my friend I

‘
, .

20 8
 W H IT E M AN OF WORK

Suddenly wi th flashing eyes he turned to ,

“
Muj asi and said : T o morrow morning -

take your army and tie up Philipo and this

other man Mackay and drive them back t o
, ,
”
the country from which they came .

“
Mr A she says : Mackay and I were u t
.

terly taken aback and astounded at this de

'

c is io n and we begged the ka tikiro to hear

,

u s and tried to take his hand to p lead once

,

more But he waved us scornfully aside

.
,
’
and with a cry of triumph from Muj asi s
,

soldiers we were hustled and dragged from

,
’
the great man s presence a dangerous and ,

angry mob momentarily growing thicker

about us S oon they were actually quar
.

‘
reling fo r our clothes Mine shall be his .

‘ ‘
coat shrieked one ; Mine his trousers N o
,
’

mine ! and there was a scuffle to get nearer

’

the clothing they coveted H owever the .

,

katikiro did not wish matters to go quite

s o far and sent his head executioners to
,

warn o ff the vul ture soldiers The order .

w a s instantly obeyed and dazed and amazed ,

we found ourselves alone It w as now ne ar .

21 0
 T HRE E B O Y H E RO E S

sunset and we made our way back home in

”
a very unh appy frame of mind .

In the quiet o f their home the mission ,

aries knelt together and p oured o u t their

hearts in prayer to the H eavenly F ather ,

trusting in his protection and asking for his

guidance It grieved them to think that the
.

work o f the mission might he suddenly

ended ; yet it looked as though the katikiro
and Muj asi meant to kill every o ne the v
might find who had come to the missionaries
to learn .

F ortunately some cloth was still left in

the house This they finally decided to turn
.

into presents Six loads were sent to the

.

king six to the katikiro and one to Muj asi

, , ,

with the hope and prayer that their anger

might be c ahn ed The katikiro graciously
.

accepted his gift sending back word that

,

again they would be brothers S ince the .

palace gates were closed for the night the ,

king s gift was returned with the message

’

that the king would receive it in the morn

ing M uj asi to o accepted his load ; but
.
, ,

21 1
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
sent word that he was collecting a force t o
rob them in the morning and burn their
house ; but seeing they had sent presents to
the king and katikiro also he would awa it ,

further orders .

The missionaries urged all their W aganda

servants and pup ils who stayed on their
premises to flee for t heir lives O ne boy, .

however S eru w anga by name would no t

, ,

go Mr A she finding him ask ed him wha t

. .

ma dness it was which made him linger when

“ ”
in such dange r I am going my friend
.
, ,

he answered ; but alas it was too late

, ,
.

That evening he , to o was captured D ur

,
.

ing the night under cover o f the darkness

, ,

two Christian young men ventured to come

to t he missionaries home to tell them o f
’

their symp athy and loyalty The next da v .

Muj asi came and searched t he house for

W aganda Christians but none were found
,
.

F or some reason all but three of the boys

,

cap tured the day before were released ; but

in the afternoon the report reached the mis
s io na ries that Muj asi was going t o b urn t o

21 2
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

the youngest twelve were to be burned to

,

death by the savage Muj asi merely for the

crime o f having lived with the white men .

The missionaries did everything they could

to save their boys ; b ut all efi o rts were in
vain.

The sorrowful st ory was after w ards told

to Mr A she by Kidz a a Christian who as
.
,
’
Muj asi s guide had witnessed the cruel
scene T hi s is t he ac c oun t as Mr A she
. .

gives it
“
L ugalam a and K akumba when firs t ar ,

rested were t aken int o a house and Ka

, ,

kumba w as beaten in accordance with a

common Uganda custom in the treatment of
prisoners They had comp assion on L uga
.

lama and gave him some food N ext day .

’
they were taken to the king s enclosure and
their sentence w a s pronounced, Muj asi b e
ing the chief accuser Lu galam a s former
.
’

master tried to save him , but in vain .

“
S o the three boys S eru w anga Ka , ,

kumba and L ugalama were led away to

, ,

death a mo c king crowd following thr

,

21 4
 T HR E E B O Y H ERO E S

Oh ,
you kno w I s a M a s iya !Jesus
‘
said Muj asi Y o u know h o w to
.

‘
read .
’
Y o u believe y o u will rise from the
’ ‘
dead ? W ell I shall burn you an d s ee if
,
’
it be s o .

These were some o f the mocking taunts

whi ch they endured and loud was the laugh ,

ter which greeted such sallies But the .

young Christians a s some rep orted an , ,

s w ere d boldly and faithfully S eru w a nga .

w a s a daring fellow and I can well believe ,

that when Muj asi mocked he would sing a

song they O ften sang at the Mission Killa ,
‘

‘ ‘
s ihu tu u s i/ u !
’
D aily daily sing the ,

K akumb a too had come to the , ,

missionaries when all others were afraid

and perhaps his voice j oined in the song .

But what could have been in poor little Ln

g a l a m a s heart’
but the haunting o v erm a s ,

tering horror o f death and such a death ! —

There were none who dared to beat upon

their breasts and show the sorrow that they
felt though there were many sympathizin g
,

friends who followed many compassionat e ,

21 5
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

hearts that G o d had touched with a pity

which perhaps befor e they had never
known .

“
The mob carrying gourds full of b a
,

nana cider found their way toward the bor

-
,

ders of a dismal swamp H ere they halted . .

Part of the crowd brought fi re wood others —

made a kind o f rough frame work under -

,

which the fuel w as heap ed Then the pris .

oners were seized and a scene o f S ickening

,

cruelty w as enacted S ome laid hold of Se

.

ru w anga others of K akumba and others o f

, ,

L ugalama brandishing their long curved

, ,

knives S eru w anga committed his cause to

.

H im who judgeth righteously and the cruel ,

knife could not wring from him a cry ; bleed

ing he was cast into the fire K akumba ap .

p ealed to Muj asi Muj asi believed in Al lah

.

!God ] t,
he Al l merciful
-
h e pleaded a rela
—

tio nship with him ; but alas ! there is as ,

much mercy in the knife in the execution

’
er s hand as in Muj asi s heart and he too
’
,

underwent the short agony and the flame .

“
And no w the saddest scene of all M u .

21 6
 T HR EE B O Y H E RO E S
j asi bade them treat Lugalama as they
treated the others They came nearer and .
,
‘
he cried out O h do not cut o ff my arms ;
, ,

I will not struggle I will not fight ! O nly —

’
throw me into the fire ! Surely this was
o ne of the saddest prayers ever prayed on

this sad earth O nly throw me into the

fire ! ’

“
The but chers did their work and marred
what was s o wonderfully made and the ,

poor bleeding boy was placed on the frame

work that the slow fire might finish what the
cruel knife had begun A wail of anguish .

went up becoming fainter and fainter a

,
—

last sob and then silence

,
.

“
Kidz a stood sa dl y watching the sorrow
ful scene wondering perhaps whether his
,

turn mi gh t be next when Muj asi drunken , ,

‘
with blood came t o him ,
Ah you are .
,

here ! I will burn you to o and your house

hold I know yo u are a follower o f I s a
.

! Jesus ]
‘
Y es
’
I am said K id
,
za
‘
and I ,
’
,

am not ashamed o f it ! Muj asi then left ’

”
him .

21 7
 WH IT E MA N OF WORK
W hat shall I say of that day o f wait
ing hoping praying fearing praying not
, , ,
—

vainly though at the very time the awful

,

deed was being done ?

“
Such prayers are no t vain as they may
seem but the answer to them is yet to come
,
.

That was a day when the wrongs o f A frica

came home to me and burned themselves
deep into my very soul that day when Lu
—

galama f ell asleep January thirty fi rst

,
-
,

1 885 .

21 8
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

If the missionaries were taken away or

killed what would become of the little
,

Uganda chur c h of about a hun dred mem

bers ? H ither t o the Christians had always
met in the mi ssion house for worship It .

was the mi ssionary who led in the service ,

and it w a s he who did most of the teaching .

To the missionaries the Christians came for

advi c e when in difficul ty ; and t o the mis
s io naries they looked fo r e n couragement
when disheartened If the missionaries
.

were gone woul d these W a ganda s t and by

,

their Christian colors ?

To help them to be more inde p endent in
the time of trial tw o things were done .

F irst out o f t heir own number cer t ain men

,

were elected as leaders o r elders In the

.

homes o f these men the Christians o f the

neighborhood woul d gather quietly t o w o r
ship o r to study reading when it might not
,

be safe to mee t in the missionaries home

’
.

These elders were taught by the white men

h o w to lead in worship and were enc ou r
,

aged to be worthy help ers to the others .

22 0
 STURDY B LA C K C HR I S TI AN S
The second thing done was made possi
ble by the very persecutions they were en
during F or some time after the terrible
.

murder only a few p upils dared to venture

,

to the mission house The missionaries b e

.
,

ing relieved o f much of their teaching gave ,

their time largely to translating and print

ing N o t even o ne entire Gospel as yet
.
, ,

had been translated into the L uganda lan

gu age All the Bible the W aganda Chris
.

tians had !except a few who co ul d read the

coast language ) was a few pages o f Matthew
and S hort selections chosen here and there
from the O ld and N ew Testaments If .

their white teachers were driven from the

coun try how coul d the young Christians be
,

expected to keep true to their Saviour when ,

they had so little O pportunity to learn about

him ? F or months both by day and by
,

night the missionaries with the help o f a

,

small band o f the more intelligent Chris

tians toiled away at the translation o f Mat
thew S Gospel into Luganda
’
.

“ ”
N o readers being arrested for some
2 21
 WH ITE M AN OF WOR K

months the Christians and pup il s who were

, ,

not Christians as yet gradually lost their

,

fear and began to flock to the mission as

before F requently the school room and
.
,

the new chapel were crowded to t heir u t

mos t
.

Strange t o say, M ackay b ecause o f his

mechanical skill again became p opular at
court O ne morning o n going to ba raz a he
.
,

was very much surprised to have the kati

kiro take him warmly by the hand and s ay
that now Mackay was a favorite and might ,

have the katikiro s daughter for a wife

’
.

F o r a reply Mackay merely asked him h o w

,

long his favoritism would last .

“
The king was very grac ious said ,
“
Mackay expressing the hop e that our for
,

mer good relations were again restored I .

told him that it seemed unreasonable that he

and his people should value so highl y o u r
goods and workmanshi p while he would not ,

listen to what w e said about the soul T he .

king said I w as right and the katikiro also

,‘
‘
said that we white men were evidently men
222
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK
’ “ ”
country s back door H e and his army
.

were being held as prisoners by the chief

of that region who was awaitin g Mw anga s ’

orders.

The fact really was that the white man

about whom such swelling words were
S poken was not the general of an army but ,

a missionary t he newly chosen bishop for

,

Central and Eastern A frica Utterly igno .

rant o f the long standing prej udice against

-

entering Uganda through U so ga Bishop ,

H annington had taken what seemed to him

the shortest and easiest road from the coast .

The missionaries in Uganda had written him

a letter warning him o f the danger but he ,

had never received it They had endeavored

.

to explain to Mwanga that the bishop was

only a teacher of God like t hemselves and
, ,

had no t thought of eating the country but ,

the chiefs persuaded hi s maj es ty t o treat

all white men as enemi es .

O ne day a page of the king secretly told

the mi ssionaries that Mwanga had sent an
.

order t o kill the bishop and all his men .

224
 STURDY B LA C K C HR ISTI AN S

They hurried to the court to plead that mes

s engers be sent to cancel the order ; but for

o ne excuse and another , Mwanga day after

da y refused t o see them until it was too late ,

and a heathenish crime was committed at

“ ’ ”
Uganda s back door .

In the land of U s o ga o n the eastern bor,

d er of Uganda Bishop H annington for

,

seven weary days was kept a prisoner in

a dark filthy hut O n the eighth day
,
.
,

Mw anga s messengers arrived and bade him

’

come forth from his prison H e staggered .

o u t pale and worn with the fever which had

,

wrecked his body during the week o f awful

suffering in prison M r A she tells the. .

story as he heard it later from the lips of

o ne who witnessed the dreadful tragedy .

“
O ne o f the messengers snatches up his
” “
Bible he says another his portfolio and
, , ,

another his sketch book ; and they lead him

-

”
o u t telling him he is soon to j oin his men
,
.

“
A fter two hours walking the party ’
,

reaches an open S pace beyond the banana

groves where at last H annington sees his
,

2 25
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
men no t as he exp ect ed with their loads
, , , ,

nor carryi ng their guns and full of spirits

at the thought o f once more being o n the
road but all bound some with a heavy
, ,

forked branch round their necks and many ,

with their hands tied behind their backs .

They no w see their mas t er led into the open

where they are H e seems wonderful ly
.

calm and turns as if to sit down but this is —

not allowed A gun is fired and H anning

.
,

to n s guards begin to strip him o f his cloth

’

ing H e is quite p assive in their hands

. .

H e has comm ended his soul to H im who S its

‘
above kings Tell the king
. h e is re ,
—

ported to have said that I die for Uganda

,
.

I have bought this road with my life .

’

“
They had now forced him to his knees .

Then the S pears are flung into that heart

which had o verflo w ed w ith such fervent
love for his murderers and their race The .

warriors with a wild cry now S pring up on

the defenseless p orters and soon the fright
,

ful butchery is accomplished ; and then as ,

if half fearin g what they ha d done , the

226
 STURDY B LA C K C H R ISTI AN S
army o f the Busoga and W aganda murder
ers hurries away leaving the dead lv ing
,

where they had fallen N ight draws her .

curtain over the scene and when the moon ,

comes o u t she shines peacefully upon the

,
”
seeming sleepers .

F or several weeks after the t raged y w a s

past the missionaries in Uganda receiving
,

conflicting reports about what had hap

pened lived with a faint hope that the
,

bishop was still alive If he had been mur .

dered they expected that any day they them

,

selves like their bishop would be sum

, ,

m o ned forth to die ; yet they quietly went

about their usual work as if nothing had
happened A lthough the missionaries knew
.

it not day after day the king and chiefs as

, ,

sembled to discuss the question whether o r

not Mr A she Mr O F lah erty and Mr
.
, .
’
,
.

Mackay should be killed A t last the dread .

decision was made M w anga s word was ,

’

given The three Englishmen must die

. .

The king s chief storekeeper h owever

’
, ,

be ing a Christi an quietly sent word ,

22 7
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

to the missionaries sugges ting that they

send a present to the king N alum a si a .
,

Christian princess o ne o f Mw anga s sisters

,
’
,

also sent word warning them that if ever

they needed t o gain the good will o f Mwanga
it was then The R oman Catholic priests
.

also sent messengers to s ay that there was

’
no longer a doubt about the bishop s mur
der and that Mwanga had de t ermined to
,

kill M r A she Mr O F laherty, and Mr

.
, .
’
.

Mackay t o o ,
.

S o t he missionaries gathere d t ogether

abou t twenty loads o f t heir mos t valuable
p ossessions and sent them as present s to the
king the katikiro and one o f the most im
, ,

portant chi efs The next morni n g a large

.

band o f p ages c ame t o t he miss ion with the

comm and from the king for Mackay t o go at
once to the p alace W hat did i t mean ?
.

W as there some new dan g er t o f a c e ? The

missionaries knelt t o pray Then manfully .

Mr A she and Mr Mackay went before the

. .

king .

The conversation o p ened b y Mw anga s ’

2 28
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

chief had nothing more to s ay Y et they .

all began to rail o n the tw o white men .

“
A t last Mackay said H ave we done ,
”
wrong to give the king a present ? It w a s
a telling question and again they were s i
lent.

Then Mr Ashe Spoke. Y ou all kno w

why we sent it W e want to hear about our
.

brother .

“ ”
W ho told you about your brother ?
every one cried .

“ ”
D oes no t all Uganda know it?
”
O h do all Uganda go to your p lace ?
,

Then the king turning t o o ne o f the

,
“ ”
chiefs said Question them exceedingly
, , .

S o the tw o men were mercilessly plied

w ith questions The king wanted the names
.

o f the men who had told them of the plot .

The missionaries refused to give any names .

The chiefs grew angry The king called the

.

“
white men bag w ag w a the most insulting ,

name in the L uganda language The more .

quiet the missionaries were the more an gry ,

grew the king and chiefs .

230
 STU RDY B LA C K C HR ISTI AN S

W hat if I kill you ? cried Mwanga ,

What would Q u eeni !the Queen ) do ? W as

s h e able to touch L ukonge o r Mirambo when

they killed white men ? W hat could sh e do ,

o r all Europe together ? Ho w could they

”
come would they fly ?
—

This mocking and j eering and taunting

continued for more than tw o hours until the
missionaries were thoroughly worn o u t .

Mwanga made the threat that he would

arrest and kill the white men if any W a
ganda were found on the ir premises ,

whether the white men kne w it o r not and ,

“ ”
the readers also would lose their lives .

Then suddenly he called an attendant and

“
cried Take these white men and give the m
,
”
tw o cows to quiet their minds and with a
,

wave o f his hand he dismissed the court .

Mr Mackay and Mr A she returned to their

. .

home thankful to God that he had given

them strength to be true to him in the midst
o f such trying condit ions .

That very night regardless o f M w anga s

,
’

threat word came to the missionaries from

,

23 1
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

a group of Christians gathered in the home

o f N ua the head blacksmith fo r the king
, ,

saying that fi ve persons wanted to be bap

tiz ed O ne o f these five men was G abu nga
.
,

the admi ral o f the king s fleet o f canoes o n ’

“ ”
Victoria L ake S o it is and ever will he
.
, ,

wrote M r Mackay “
. some will press into
,
”
the kin gdom in t imes o f the greatest trial .

F or about six months there w as a lull in

the storm At this time of quie t Mr
. .

O F lah erty rece ived p ermi ssion from the

’

kin g to leave the country W orn and .

broken in health by frequent attacks of fe

ver he turned his face toward the shores of
,

his beloved England W hile hi s vessel sped .

o n its w ay northward he breathed hi s last , ,

and his body like those o f many home

,

ward bound voyagers before him found its

-
,

resting place in the ocean

-
.

Ever since Bishop Hanningto n s m a rtv r ’

dom Mwanga had acted like a cr iminal ever

,

fearin g arrest H e was too proud to admit

.

his guilt yet afraid that the whi te men and

,

their followers woul d o ne day rob him of

232
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

This fellow has insul ted me angrily ,

cried Mwanga and ordered that B aliku

,

dembe be burned alive .

The executioner a friend o f the boy

, ,

thought to delay in carrying out the sen

‘

tence ; but the katikiro who hated B aliku

,

dembe because he was a Christian sent word ,

to the executioner to kill the fellow at once ,

before the king had time to repent .

Mwanga did repent afterward and sent ,

word to make the boy merely a pris

oner But it was too late Brave B aliku
. .

dembe had already gone where wicked

rulers cease troubling .

O ther events helped t o irrit at e t he al

ready unh a p py king H is straw built hut
.
—

in which he kept his stores o f gunp owder ,

caught fire and a hi gh wind carried the

,

masses o f blazing grass hither and yon

among the other royal houses o f the enclos
ure until his entire p ala c e grounds had b e
come a heap o f ashes H e fled to the house
.

o f the katikiro only to have it S hortly

struck by lightning Mwanga, crazed with
.

23 4
 S TURDY B LA C K C HR I S TI AN S

fear thought that the go d o f lightning w a s

,

his enemy and that he had been bewitched

by the white men Surely they had s et fire
.

to his stores o f gunp owder s o that when

,

the English army marched against his capi

tal he would have nothing wit h whi c h to
,

fight
About this time Mwanga ordered the mis
,

sion boat to be brought to a certain place ;

in case Mackay obeyed the king the execu ,

tio ner was ordered to be in waiting to put

him to death F or once even the katikiro
.

proved to be a friend o f the white man .

Through his timely w arning Mackay was ,

enabled to escape the plot o f the king and

executioner .

F rom time t o time disturbing reports

reached the missionaries N o w it was the
.

Uganda Christians w h o w ere to be seized ;

again it w a s the mission property which
was to be plundered ; sometimes their o w n
lives were threatened Mackay and A she
.

lived and worked o n no t knowin g when ru

mo rs mi gh t b ecome realities .

23 5
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK
May twenty sixth 1 88 6 was bright o f sky
-
, ,

but dark o f deed Mr A she with a company

. .

“ ”
of readers about him was seated on the ,

porch at the back o f the mission house .

They had just been singing ,

All th e p e o p le b o w b e fo re Th ee
Th o u th e R u l er of th e h e av ens ,

when Mackay appeared suddenl y Speak .

“
ing in English to Mr A she he said At .
, ,

last it is really true I have just heard that

.

Mwanga has gone mad and given o rders to

”
seize all the Christi ans .

“
Escape quickly les t t hey sear c h ou r
”
place,
said Mr A she to the boys in Ln
.

ganda ; and Skipping through a hole in the

back fen c e all the pupils soon disap peared
,
.

S carcely had they gone , when an officer o f

the king arrived with a company o f armed
“ ”
men in sear c h f or readers but none were ,

found .

O ne o f the Mw anga s o wn sisters had been

’

bold enough to burn up her magic charms

“
and ancestral relics The rebellion is
.

236
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

S houting the furious king with S pear in

, ,

hand wounded and bruised the body o f the

,

faithful Christian Y et Ka gw a s li f e was

.
’

spared .

“
W hile readers were being hunted l ike
wild beas t s many o f them fled to distant
,

provinces S ome refused to hide lest their

.
,

enemies might accuse them o f being c o w

ards O ne such was R oberto who had been
.
,

accustomed almost daily to come to the mis

sion Mackay kne w him well since to
.
,

gether they had made several trips to and

from the southern end o f the lake .

A s R oberto with a group of boys about

him was o ne day enj oying a quiet prayer
meeting he was surprised to discover tw o
,

o r three executioners standing outside the

door of his hut Immediately all his boys

.
,

except o ne bolted through the reed partition

wall and escaped A gun was leaning .

against the door and seeing this the ex ecu

,

tio ners hesitated to enter .

“
D o not be afraid that I will S hoot said ,
“ ”
R ob ert o c ome in and take me
,
.

23 8
 STURDY B LA C K C HR ISTI AN S

Binding him and the o ne boy with him ,

the executioners dragged the tw o before the

king .

“ ”
D o yo u read ? asked his maj esty .

”
Y es .

Take him and roast him w as the ty ,

rant s fiendish reply

’
.

’
The boy s life was redeemed b v friends
who gave the king in return a woman and a
c ow
. R obert o was kept in the stocks for a
few days and then was led forth to his
,

death H is b leeding body mercilessly

.
,

mangled with t he sword was thrown into ,

the flames .

Another who re fused to flee was N u a

head blacksmith t o the king W hile labor .

ing with Mackay over the coffin fo r M u

tesa s mother he had become a friend o f
’
,

the white man L ater N ua became a Chris

.
,

tian and indeed an elder in the W aganda

church In times of peril he had faithfully
.
,

invited the Christians to gather in his home .

O n hearing o f the arrests he hurried his ,

wife and children and tw o o r three Chris

23 9
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK

tian boys who had been living with him o ff

to a place o f hiding F or himself he re
.
,

fused to flee and of course was arrested

, .

Whi le boun d hand and foot in p rison he ,

pleaded with the executioners to become

Christians N oticing among those who were
.

imprisoned with him one who had been ar

rested for cat tle stealing N ua asked the
—
,

executioner not t o kill the cattle stealer —

along with the Christians The matter was .

reported to Mwanga and t he ca ttle stealer

,
-

was pardoned ; but N ua and his Christian

companions were burned al ive .

The day after the arres t o f the seventy

Christians the alarming repor t reached the
,

missionaries that their houses were to be

plundered Al l the whi t e men s W aganda
.
’

servants and boys were immedi ately dis

missed and Mr Mackay and M r A she were
, . .

left alone in their enclosure T o them it .

was indeed a dark day .

“
W hat anguish of soul we have exp eri
“
enced,
wrote Mr Mackay no words can
.
,

express L et some of our friends at home

.

2 40
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
N o said Mackay there are many still
, ,
”
alive .

“
W ell there may be fi ve o r s ix or even
,
“
ten,
said Mwanga they S hall not be ,
”
killed .

Mackay begged that the executioner be

summoned at once and given the new order .

This w a s not done however the king insist

, ,

ing that he had already give n orders to

S pare several and all the others were dead
,
.

But M w anga s promises were worthless

’
.

O nly a few days later thirty two of the im ,

-

prisoned Christians were killed having ,

been thrown together in o ne great pile and

burned alive A fter the deed w as done the
.
,

head executioner said to Mwanga that he

had never before killed men who showed
such bravery and calmness in the face of
death .

“
In the fire th ey even prayed aloud to
,
”
G od ,
he said .

D uring the weeks and months which fo l

’
lowed the missionaries headquarters were
,
“
watched by the executioners M ore read .

2 42
 STURDY B LA C K C HR ISTI AN S

e rs were captured and killed ; and scores

and even hundreds went i nto hiding The .

missionaries s a w little o f their W aganda

friends O ccasionally they would be awak
.

ened in the middle o f the night by o ne o r

tw o of the bolder Christians who under the
cover of darkness would venture out .

Strange to s ay at this most dangerous

,

time some even asked for baptism O ne of

,
.

these was a pupil o f R oberto the Chris ,

tian who refused to protect himself b v u s

ing his gun Mr A she being the preacher
. .

“
the boy went to him and said My friend , ,
”
I wish to be baptized .

“ ”
D o you know what you are asking ?
Mr A she said in surprise
. .

“ ”
I know my friend , .

But yo u know that if you s a v you are a

”
Christian they will kill you ?
A gain the b o y answered the same words ,
”
I know my friend ,
.

But suppose people ask yo u if yo u are

a reader will yo u tell a lie and deny it and
,
‘ ’
s ay N o ?

2 43
 W H IT E M AN OF WORK
I S hall confess my friend ,
.

Mr Mackay and Mr A she having known

. .
,

the boy for some time and believing him to

be a true Christian consented to his bap ,

tism .

’
At three o clock one morning while it w as ,

still very dark M r A she was awakened by

,
.

a lo w knocking at his door Arising and .

lighting his lamp he recognized almost half

,

a dozen Christian men standing in front o f

the house and he invited them in O ne o f
,
.

them S amweli by name w as in great trou

, ,

ble and had come to ask advice Since he .

was among the best known o f the Chris

tians he had been hunted most carefully by
,

the executioners B eing away in a distant

.

p rovince gathering tribute f or the king he

, ,

had escaped But now he had returned

. .

H is companions had urged him to flee but ,

he could no t feel that it was right for him

not to deliver the tribute o f cowry shells to -

the king ; yet to show himself at the p alace

would mean alm o st c er t ain death W hat .

was he to d o ?
244
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

cowry shells to the app ointed chief verv

-

early in the morning and perhaps the exe ,

c u tio ners would not yet be abroad in search

o f Christians W hen Samweli said good by

.
-

to the missionaries they had little hope o f

,

seeing his face again Ho w thankful they .

were when at nightfall he appeared once ,

more at the mission happy because he had ,

done his duty even t hough a t the risk o f

,

life itself .

L ate o ne n ight in June tw o Christians ,

o ne o f them fleeing for the third time for

h is life visited the mission

,
To these men .
,

Mr Mackay and Mr A she gave a letter

. .

which they had written for circulation

among the Christians in hiding L ike some .

o f Paul s letters to h is p ersecuted follow

’

ers h o w it must have c heered many a lo nelv

,

convert ! It read
PEO PLE O F JESU S W HO ARE I N U GA N D A
O ur F riends z W e your friends and
—

teachers write to you to send y ou wor ds o f

,

cheer and comfort which we have taken,

from the Epistle of Peter the apostle o f ,

246
 S TU RDY B LA C K C HR I S TI AN S
Christ In days o f o ld Christians w ere
.
,

hated w ere hunted were driven o u t and

, , ,
’
were persecuted for Jesus sake ; and thus
it is to day -
.

“
O ur beloved brethren do no t deny o u r ,

L ord Jesus and he will no t deny y o u o n

,

that great day when he shall come with

glory R emember the words o f o u r S av
.
“

j our h o w he told his disciples not to fear

,

men who are able to kill only the body ; but

,

he bade them to fear God who is able to ,

destroy the body together with the soul .

“
D o no t cease to pray exceedingly and ,

to pray for our brothers who are in afflic

tion and for those who do no t know God
,
.

May God give yo u his Spirit and his bless

ing ! May he deliver y ou out of all your a f
flic tio ns ! May he give you entrance to
eternal life through Jesus Christ our S av
io u r !
“
F arewell W e are the white men ; we
.

are your brothers indeed who have written

to yo u .

O n the other side o f the letter was writ

247
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

t en the fourth chapter o f the F irst L etter

o f Peter from the twelfth verse t o the end
,

of the chapter .

So in Uganda the native Chris tians not ,

long since degraded heathen were no w su f

fering t orment and death rather than deny
the ir L ord and Saviour In all about tw o
.
,

hundred Protestant and R oman Catholic

converts were brought to a cruel martyr
do m and probably more than tha t number
,

were made e xiles from their homes .

It was in like manner that centuries ago ,

in t he days of N ero at R ome the early ,

Christians suffered S O some o f our o w n

.

f or efathers were burned at the stake S o .

in later years the Christian churches in

Madagascar the H awaiian Islands Japan
, , ,

and C hi na have added to the noble comp any

of martyrs .

L ike the faithful heroes told o f in the

eleventh chapter o f H ebrews they were ,
“
tortured not accepting their deliverance ;
,

that they might obtain a better resurrection

and ot hers had trial o f mo ckin gs and
248
 C H AP T E R X II

T HE W H ITE I I AN OF W O R K LA Y S D O W N HI S
T O O LS

N OE more there was a period o f com

p a ra tiv e quiet in Uganda A nother .

o f the white men left for England In .

deed M r A she and Mr Mackay had both

, . .

asked p ermission to go T his was no t b e.

cause o f any thought o f abandoning their

work no r because of any fear of death .

But it was thought that perhaps through

their temporary absence the persecutions
o f the Christians might cease Then being .

again quiet in min d Mwanga might with

,

real heartiness invite the missionaries to re

turn to his capital .

A fter many discussions a t c ourt his ,

black maj esty finally consented that Mr .

A sh e should leave but no t so Mr Mackay,

,
.

250
 H E LAY S DOWN H IS T OOL S

for whom the king pretended to have a

most remarkable a if ectio n S o Mr Mackay . .

bade farewell to his long time companion -

,

and for nearly a year held the fort in

Uganda alone .

N o tw ith s tanding t he edict that all who

dared to go to the mission would be put to
“
death large numbers o f readers stole
,

away unnoticed to the white man s house ’

.

S everal months after Mr A she left Mr .

, .

Mackay wrote
“
F o r a couple o f months after you left I
w a s having a regular houseful o f strangers
every evening The tin o f petroleum ar
.

rived in time and with it I could make a

,

respectable light s o that the library became

,

a night school L ate late often very late

-
.
, , ,

we wou nd up and I was often more than

,

exhausted reading teaching giving medi

—

, ,

cine and doing other work B v day I got

,
.
,
”
o ff and o n some translation done
, .

In addition to his teaching and doctoring ,

the “white man o f work undertook to con

s truc t a s p inning wheel and weaver s loom
-
’

25 1
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

so that the W aganda might learn to Sp in

and t o weave their o w n cloth .

W hen the royal mechanics had all failed ,

Mackay was asked to mount a huge flagstaff

’
in the king s enclosure Very awkward .

helpers they were who a ided him and it w as ,

only after many days of patient labor that

the pole slipped int o the hole dug for it and ,

stood up tall and firm t o the as t onishment

,

and delight of the king and chie fs .

W henever time c oul d be s p ared Ma c kay ,

labored on the t ranslation and printing of

the G ospel o f Matthew In a few months
.

the first edition of one hundred and fifty

copies came from the press and t he eager ,

Chris t ians were able t o read f or themselves

t he pre c ious stories of the Christ his com -

ing as a babe in B ethl ehem his teachings on

,

the Mount his miracles hi s p arables and

, , ,

finally his sufferin g s deat h , and resu rrec

,

t ion.

But su ch event s as these came onl y occa

s io nally to brighten Mackay s life
’
F o r the .

most part the shadows far outnumb ere d the

2 52
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

I am doing right in qu ietly going o n with

the work My earnest heart wish is simply
.
-

‘
t o cast myself o n the Master and s ay T hv , ,

will be done ! ’

F or a time Mwanga pretended t o be a

M ohammedan and ordered all his pages to
,

read the K oran O n the refusal o f a num

.

ber to obey his orders Mwanga complained ,

that all those who read with the white men

were stubborn and compelled him to be ever
killing them s o that people would call him a
,
“
madman ! H e threatened to kill very
”
many . But his qu eenm o th er although a ,

heathen warned him against putting his

,

pages to death ; since she said in a few , ,

years they would be the chief strength of

his country .

N o w that Mackay was alone his o ld ,

enemies the A rabs redoubled their efforts

, ,

to drive him from the country A gain and .

again they slandered his character before

Mwanga W hen a letter written in
.
,

Arabi c came from the English consul in

,

Zanzib ar, they mistranslated it to t he ki ng ,

254
 H E LAY S DOWN H IS T OOL S

so that it read that the consul advised

Mwanga to drive Mackay o u t of the country
at once The king hesitated not knowing
.
,

which to believe the Arabs o r Mackay

, .

N o w he seemed to favor Mackay s leaving ;

,
’

again he refused his permission The

, .

strain o f uncertainty lasted several weeks ,

but Mackay waited in patience .

F inally the king definitely declared I

will no t have his teaching in the c o u ntrv
while I live A fter I am dead the people
.

”
may learn to read .

Mackay did no t leave however until he

, ,

gained a promise from the king to send a

native messenger along with him in the
boat s o that o n the return trip o f the ship
, , ,

another Englishman might be brought to

’
Uganda to take Mackay s place .

So o ne day in the summer o f 1 88 7 ,

Mackay bade farewell to his Uganda home ,

and to the great heathen capital and its

king locked up the mission houses and
, ,

s tarted for the p ort .

G oo d by gifts were given back and forth

-

25 5
 W H IT E M AN OF WORK
between M wanga the chi efs and Mackay ;
, ,

and the W aganda Christians called to have

their last words with the whi te man F or .

nine years he had b een to some o f them a

faithful friend and father, and it was hard
for them t o let him go .

N o t long however were the persecuted

, ,

W aganda Christians left alone The boat .

that carried Mr Ma c kay t o t he southern

.

end o f the lake brough t M r Gordon a .

,

nephew o f Bishop H annin gton , to take his

place Mr Gordon was soon j oined by Mr
. . .

W alker and these two brave men p ersist

,

ently ke pt the work moving forward .

W ithin about a year s time two revo lu ’

~

tions oc c urred in U g anda Mw anga s ’

cruelties grew s o loathsome to his subj ects

that they arose in a b ody and dethroned
him plac ing his brot her K alema o n the
, , ,

throne in hi s stead Under the new m on .

arch R oman Catholi c and Protestant

,

Christians were given t he chief offices of

“ ”
the kingdom and fo r a while,
readers
, ,
“
flo cked to the mission like s w arms o f
256
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
tament and prayer book were snatched
-
,

from him and thrown into the lake .

“
The captain carried us o n board wrote ,
“
Mr Gordon and we heard the voice of the
.
,

officer behind us H e was giving us

.

’ ‘
Uganda s p arting messag e L et no white
.

man come to Uganda for the S pace of two

years W e do not want to s ee Mackay s
.
’

boat in Uganda waters for a long time to

come W e do no t want to s ee a white
teacher back again in Uganda until we have
converted the whole o f U g anda to the Mo
h a mm edan
W hile revolut ions and fanatical o u t
bursts were taking place in Uganda ,

Mackay was beginning missionary work

ane w at a place called U s amb iro , near the
southern shore of Victoria L ake .

About seventy miles to the eastward a ,

wretched fugitive having escaped from

,

Uganda in a canoe with perhaps half a dozen

comp anions was the cruel despised Mwan
, ,

g a
. R egardless of the unspeakable wrongs
th is t yran t had committed a gain st him and

258
 H E LAY S DOWN H IS T OOL S

against s o many whom he loved the earnest , ,

forgiving mi ssionary no w wrote and offered

the ruined king a refuge with him in Usam
biro.

Murderer and persecutor as he has

” “
been wrote Mr Mackay I yet have no t
,
.
,

the faintest doubt that it becomes us to do

everything in o u r power to return him good
”
for evil .

Mwanga fearing t he A rabs felt at the

, ,

time unable to escap e H e implored

.

Mackay to come to him to deliver him but ,

this the missionary could no t do S ome .

months later Mwanga fled to the Catholic

,

mission where he was soon baptized By a .

third revolution in Uganda he was later ,

restored to his throne and the chieftain

,

ships were di vided equally between the

Christians and A rabs ; but Mwanga was as
S amson with his hair shorn N ever again .

did he gain his old power H e became little

.

more than a puppet in the hands of his

chiefs and at his death no o ne could say
,

tha t he had ever Shown any ce rtain signs

25 9
 WH ITE MAN OF WORK
that he had become a real hear t Chris t ian -
.

In the meantime what w a s Mackay doing

,

a t U s amb iro ? W hen the W aganda Chris

tians were exiled from their country some ,

twenty fi ve o f them fled to Mackay W ith

-
.

their assistance he built a neat fi ve room

,
-

house for himself and the two or three other

white men who sometimes were w ith him .

W orkshops houses fo r his boys buil di ngs

, ,

for his chickens goats and cattle and a

, , ,

garden where he could raise vegetables were

o ther result s of their industry F inally .
,

the entire grounds when enclosed by a neat

,

grass fence became an attractive homelik e

,

spo t in the midst of a barren dry, and tree ,

less was t e .

Even when driven from Uganda M a ck ay ,

di d not cease to toil for the land he had long

since called his o w n H e di rect ed his ex
.

iled Christians in the use of the printing

press and many pages o f Scripture verses
, ,

prayers and hymns from time to time were

,

sent to Uganda Then too with the assist

.
, ,

an c e o f the more intelligen t among the

2 60
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
of themselves they have to be built every
—

inch o f them But trees have been growing

.

for ages o f the L ord s planting ; and as we

,
’

fell them I like to think that he made them

,
”
gro w fo r this purpose .

A little later he wrote again I have

j ust received seventy loads of rivets fit ,

tings rope paint and other material for

, , , ,

this vessel for which I am collecting the

,

needed t imber S ome time ago I wrote y o u

.

o f my felling trees in the forest some ten to

twenty miles di stant The problem then.

w a s to have these conveyed to this station .

I found that the logs were t oo heavy either

to drag o r to have carried by all the men I
could muster I therefore s et to work and
.

made a strong four wheeled wagon with -

which to fetch the logs entire here This .

has proved quite a success and already we ,

have dragged a log weighing a ton and a

half to this place with no difficulty It is .

the first wheeled vehicle ever seen in this

region since the world began with the ex ,

c ep tio n of an iron wheelbarrow w hi ch w a s

262
 H E LAY S DOWN H IS T O O L S

used in the buil di ng o f the Suez Canal and ,

was shipped over here This wheelbarrow .

has proved a marvel to the natives ; but the

ease with which our wagon rolls along with
a large log o n the top of it , is a far greater
”
wonder still .

It w a s in August 1 8 89 the las t summe r

, ,

o f Mackay s l ife
’
Mr Stanley happened to
. .

be returning to the coast having rescued an ,

English governor who had long been held a

prisoner in Central A frica Passing by .

’
Mackay s mission he and his company re
,

mained with the missionary nearly a month .

Stanley s story of his visit gives a picture

’

of the kind o f life Mackay was livin g .

”
The next day says Mr Stanley ha v
,
.
,

ing already sent messages ahead that we

-
,

might not take Mr Mackay by surprise we .

,

arrived in view o f the English mission It .

was built in the middle o f what appeared to

be no better than a gray waste The .

ground gently sloped from curious heaps of

big boulders o r enormous blocks thrown
,

h iggeledy piggledy to the height o f a reSp ec

-

2 63
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK
t able hill down to a marshy flat green with
, ,

its dense crop of papyrus Beyond this we .

s a w a gleam o f a line o f water produced ,

from an inlet o f Victoria L ake W e were .

approaching the mission by a wagon track

and presently we came to the wagon itself ,

a simple thing o f wooden wheels for carry ,

ing timber for building Ther e w a s not a

.

green thi ng in view except in the marsh ;

,

g rass all dead trees either shr unk with ,

ered o r dead at least there was no t the

,
—

promise o f a bud anyw here which o f course ,

was entirely due to the dry season .

“
W hen we were about half a mile o ff ,

a gentleman of small stature with brown ,

hair dressed in white l inen and a gray hat

, ,

advanced to meet us .

‘
And s o you are Mr Mackay ? Mwanga
.

di d not get you then this time ? W hat ex

,

p e rie nce s y o u must have had with that man !

But you look so well o ne would say y o u had
,
’
b een to England lately .

‘
O h no ; this is my twelfth year
,
.

Mwanga p ermitted me to leave , and the

2 64
 H E LAY S DOWN H IS T OOL S

R ev Cyril Gordon took my place ; but not

.

for long since they were all shortly after

,

expelled from Uganda .

Talking thus we entered the circle o f

,

tall poles within which the mission station

,

was built There were signs o f labor and

.
,

constant unwearying patience and sweating

under a hot su n W e s aw that Mackay was
.

determined to do something to keep the

mind employed and never to let idleness
,

find him with folded hands broo di ng over

the unloveliness .

“
There was a big solid workshop in the
,

yard filled w ith machinery and tools a

, ,

launch s boiler was being prep ared by the

’

blacksmiths a big canoe was outside repair

,

ing ; there were sawpits and large logs of

hard timber ; there were great stacks of
palisade p oles ; in the corner of an outer
yard was a cattle fold and a goat pen fowls
- —

by the score p eeked at minute grains

and out of the European quarter there
trooped o u t a number of little boys and
b ig boys looking uncomm only sleek and
,

2 65
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

hap p y ; and quiet laborers came up to bid

‘
us with hats o ff Good morning !
, ,
’

“
I was ushered into the room o f a sub
s tantial clay structure the walls about tw o ,

feet thick evenly plastered and garnished

, ,

with missionary pictures .

“
There were four separat e ranges of
shelves fil led with choice useful b ooks ,
.

‘
Al lah ho Akbar repli ed H assan his Zan
,
’
,
‘
z ibar head man to me ; books ! Mackay has
-
,

thousands o f books in the dining room bed,

-
,

room the church everywhere B ooks ! ah

, , .
,

loads upon loads of them ! And while I ’

was sipping real coffee and eating home ,

made bread and butter fo r the first time for

thir ty months I thoroughly sympathized
,
’
with Mackay s love of books It becomes .

quite clear why among s o many books and

,

children and o u t door work Mackay cannot

-
,

find leisure to brood and think o f being

lonely H e has no time to fret and groan
.

and weep and G o d knows if ever man had

,

reason to be doleful and lonely and s a d ,

M ackay had, when after murdering his ,

2 66
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK
D eekes ,was preparing to return to England
because o f ill health The day o f his de
.

p arture came H e and his men had risen

.

early and all the packing which was still to

be done was completed by sunrise and they ,

were ready to star t o n the long march to the

coas t
.

But where was Mr Mackay ? Coul d it be

.

that he was sleeping whil e the others within

the enclosure were up and busy helping the
party get a good start before the scorching
sun compelled them to halt ? Mr Mackay .

had worked hard the day before and per

haps he was resting unusually soun dl y .

Expecting to say good by to his faithful

-

’
friend Mr D eekes entered Mackay s room
,
. .

W hen he returned to hi s men he dismissed ,

them and ordered all preparations fo r the

march to cease for Mackay was lying on
,

his bed burning with fever .

D uring the whole day his W aganda boys

with solemn questioning faces flitted
,

quietly about doing their necessary duties

,
.

N o doctor was near Mr D eekes himself

. .

268
 H E LAY S DOWN H IS T OOL S
was weak and could do little The care o f .

the sick mi ssionary was left largely to uh

trained W aganda Christians who di d the
best they knew to cool his fevered brow .

D uring the next four days Mr Mackay, in .

hi s delirium knew not the lo ving black

,

nurses who in their SM p le way were doing

,

their utmost to w in their beloved t eacher

back to life ; but his Sp irit would no t be de
“
ta ined H is Master called
. Enter thou ,
”
into the j oy of thy L ord, and Al exander
Mackay was gone .

“
I had a coffin made o f the woo d he had
” “
cut for the boat wrote Mr D eekes and
, .
,
’
at tw o o clock in the afternoon o n S unday
I buried him by the side of the late Bishop
Parker The W aganda Christians and the
.

boys of the village stood around the grave ,

and I began to read the burial servic e but ,

broke dow n w ith grief and weakness The .

boys and W aganda Christians sang the

hymn All hail the power of Jesus name
,
‘ ’
,
’

in L uganda and we returned to t he house ,

,
”
never to forget tha t day .

269
 WH IT E M AN OF WORK

S o it was that Africa lost the man whom

Stanley called the best missionary since
L ivingstone
.

27 0
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK
his army in Egypt H ad he accepted the .

o fi er perhaps he might have ended his life

,

as o ne of Great Brita in s well known c o m ’

-

manders I nstead he di ed in the prime o f

.
,

life a mi ssionary in remot e Central

—

A fric a .

F our t een years in A fric a had brough t t o

Mr Mackay the kno ttiest o f problems and
.

hardships untold D uring all t his time

.
,

luxury was far from him, and O ft en he

lacked even what we regard as common
comfort s N o mother o r s ist er o r wife w a s
.

a t his side t o bright en his simp le home .

L at e and early, he t oiled, O fttimes a t t asks

for which he had no sp ecial liking Many .

o f t hose whom he had s o p atiently t aught

and whom he had come t o love as his o w n

brothers , he s aw sent t o c ruel t orture and
death F or months a t a time he lived not
.

knowing when a wicke d monar c h migh t call

for his o wn life .

H is has not been the only p romI SI ng life

laid down fo r Uganda In 1 8 7 6 seven .
,

others besides Mackay had left t heir home s

27 2
 D I D IT P AY ?
in answer to K ing Mu tesa s plea D uring
’
.

the years since then scores of other young

,

men and even some women j ust as earnest ,

and devoted to the work and to their L ord

as Mackay have started fo r the shores of
,

Victoria L ake Some have died o n the

.

way ; others have lived fo r only a short time

in the land o f their choice ; and a few have
survived to do many years o f patient serv
ice But h as it all been wort h whil e ? D i d
.

it pay ?
It was a letter from a newspap er corre
Sp o ndent published in the L ondon T ele

g rap h that first led Christian teachers to

give their li ves for Uganda Twenty nine .
-

years later another newsp aper correspond

ent w rote a letter from Uganda s capital ’
,

and this was published in the L ondon T imes

for Augu st 1 1 1 9 04 Unlike Stanley this
,
.
,

second newspaper man had in a few days

traveled by railroad from the east coast o f
A frica t o Victoria L ake O n board a bean
.

tiful modern lake steamer he had sailed to

,

Uganda s p ort H e found a p eop le go v

’
.

27 3
 WH IT E MAN OF WORK
erned by a Christian king whose noble prime
minister was Apolo K agwa once persecuted , ,

and no w one of the pillars o f the W aganda

Christian Church H e found a country u n
.

der the protection of the English crown ,

ruled by just laws and a nation wholly

,

without slaves H e found that only a few

.

of its citizens still brought their offerings

to the heathen spirits and those few seemed
,

half ashamed to be thought o f as believers

in the wizards Thousands o f p eople he
.
,

found belonged t o the churches which had

,

been organized all over the country .

It was o ne day the privilege o f this news

p aper corres p ondent to s ee more than five
thousand of these W aganda Christians
gathered at the capital H is lett er t ells the
.

story o f the great occasion .

“
O n the summit o f N amirembe has stood
for many years the principal Christian
church of Uganda a large building the
, ,

grass roof of which w a s supported by a

V ery forest o f palm poles This eventually
.

b ecame unsafe , and has lately been repla c ed

27 4
 WH IT E MA N OF WORK

great building was surrounded by a large

crowd of disappointed but cheerful and o r
derly people who found it imp oss ible t o gain
admi ssion .

The seat s wer e a f ew res erve d f or Eu

ro p eans under the c entral dom e and t hose

kept fo r the clergy in the chancel ; all t he

rest of the floor sp ace , with the excep tion o f
the central aisle and well kept passages t o
-

the different doorways w a s completely co v

,

ered by rows o f W aganda seat ed on the

ground o r on sk ins and mats whi ch many
,

had brough t with them N o undue crowd

.

ing had been allowed ; bu t by this method o f

seating any given space will accommodate
,

a considerably larger num ber o f p eople

than it takes where room has t o be found for
chairs or benches L ooking down from the
.

chancel the eye wandered over a s ea o f dark

,

but by no means una ttractive faces and one ,

noticed a marked contras t be tween the two

sides of the church fo r to the right sat the
,

men in their clean long white robes and to

, ,

the left the women , clad fo r the mos t p ar t in

27 6
 DID IT P AY ?
the rich brown bark clo t h s o charact eris tic
”
o f Uganda .

K ing D audi O hwa Ap olo K agwa the

, ,

prime minis t er and about fifty missionaries

,

and native pastors from all parts o f the

kingdom and a vast congregation o f
within the c athedral listened reverently
through t he entire services .

“
The building o f the cathedral had in
volved a considerable drain up on the re
sources o f the p eople and t here s till re
,

mained a deb t o f more than rup ees

T o mee t this was t he obj ec t o f the
collection taken up toward the end of t he
proceedings and a most int eres ting par t o f
,

the ceremony i t p roved to be Quite a little .

army of men were employed going t o and

fro with large bags and cloths and they re ,

turned again and again t o the chancel

heavily laden with strings o f c o w ry sh ells ~
,

besides the more re gular coinage introduced

with British rule These were received by
.

the clergy in the basin shaped basket s that

-

figure largely in native life Many brought.

27 7
 WH ITE M AN OF WORK

o fi ering sin kind and the English sec tion o f

,

the congregation coul d no t repress their

smiles when the first chicken w a s solemnly
carried up the aisle and dep osited at th e
foot o f th e table followed almost imm edi
,

ately by a coup le of goats which showed a

marked obj ect ion t o being dragged back and
removed by a side door I t then ap p eared
.

that gifts were flowing in no t only from ,

the congregation p roper but from the yet ,

greater crowd which had failed to gain a d

mission and thronged aroun d the building
outside all through the service L oad after .

load o f offerings came through the doors ,

and many were the gifts that did not ap
pear within O thers arrived to o late for
.

the occasion and the amount of the c o llec

,

tion went o n growing for days afterward .

The latest figures I c oul d obtain were as fo l

lows : rupees including
about Shells and 3 6 bullocks and
,

cows 2 3 goats 3 1 fowls and 1 5 4 eggs The

, , ,
.

result o f this collection more than wi p ed o ff

the debt o n the church .

27 8
 D I D IT P AY ?
Al together the scene described was
never to be forgott en by an English visitor .

L ess than thirty years ago Stanley gave t o

,

the king of Uganda his first lesson in the

truths o f C hristianty and then ap pealed for
,

mi ssionaries t o carry o n the work H e .

lived to s ee a truly marvelous change ef

fected by the preaching of the gospel which,

is to day being carried by native t eachers

-

and prea chers f ar into t he surrounding

countries ; and now within a few weeks o f
his death a gathering o f over W aganda
for t he conse c rat ion o f a cathe dral in Mu
tesa s capital witnesses to the force with
’

which the Chris tian message can ap p eal to

an intelligent people who have heard it for
the firs t time in the p resent g eneration .

W a s it all wort h while ? D id i t p ay ?

W ere the lives wasted or well invested which
have made possible such changes in a coun
“ ”
try once heathen ? W hosoever,
said
“
Jesus would save his life shall lose it ; and
,

whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and

’ ”
the gosp el s shall save it .

279
 I ND E X
B araza , 8 0 , 8 5 , 9 6, 98 , 1 08, Ca rt s, cart barge -
, 5 8 6 8,
—
8 2,
1 24 84
B ark cloth , 20 , 3 2 , 7 4, 1 0 8 , a edral 2 7 5 2 7 9
C th ,
-

1 14 , 1 6 6, 1 8 1 , 2 7 7 C at h olic C a th olics , , 1 0 4, 2 2 8 ,
B ead money ,
beads , 1 2, 3 2, 3 4 24 8
B ellows 3 2 , , 93 C attle , 6, 8 7, 1 1 6, 1 46, 1 47,
B ible 4 1 5
, ,
—
1 9, 7 1 , 7 7, 7 8 , 1 7 3, 1 9 2, 2 60
8 1, 1 0 4, 1 0 8, 1 20, 1 23, Ch ambarang o , 16
1 28, 1 4 8, 1 5 9, 1 7 0, 2 2 1 , C h arms 1 1 3 , , 1 1 4, 1 5 6, 1 60 ,
2 2 5, 2 46 2 53 , 2 60 —
1 61 , 1 7 9, 2 36
B irds see A fri c a n birds
, Ch iefs , 9 , 2 0, 4 3 4 5, —
5 7, 7 2,
B oard books 1 5 , 7 6 , 7 9 , 8 9 , 9 3 , 9 8 , 1 0 6,
B olsters O f b a ggage 3 5 ,
—
37 1 0 7, 1 2 2, 1 2 4, 1 5 9, 1 69 ,
B ooks 2 6 6 ; ,
1 78, 1 7 9 , 1 9 7 , 1 99 , 2 2 8
destroyed 2 5 7 , 230
B orup M 2 7 5 ,
r .
, Ch rist see J , Ch i t es u s rs

B o y s see A f ic n b y
,
r a o s C h ristian boy s or lads 1 5 4, ,

B rass wire see Wi , re 1 63 , 2 0 4 20 8, —

2 12 2 19
—

B ri dges bridg e b uilding

,
-
, 5 5, 2 3 3 , 2 65 ;
5 7, 5 8 ch iefs 2 1 3 2 3 2 ;
, ,

B urial 1 80, 1 90 1 9 2 g irls 2 3 3 ;

—
, ,

of Ph ili po ,
1 66 reli gion 1 4 1 9 ,
—

, 1 0 4, 1 1 6,
of queen N a ma s o l e, 1 7 9» 1 29 , 1 3 5 1 46 ;
1 90 teachings 9 8 1 04 ,
—

B urning of C hristians , 2 1 6, C hris tians 5 2 7 2 8 , , , , 9 5, 1 0 4,

2 1 7, 2 34 , 2 3 9 2 42—
1 0 8, 1 5 3 1 69 ,—
233, 2 48 ,
2 56
C alico 1 2 4 0 4 1 1 8 1 1 89
, , , ,
—
Ch ristmas 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 9 0 , , ,

C am p s 4 4 4 5 5 2 5 9 7 0 7 1
, , , , , , C h urc h M issi nar y Socie ty o ,

C anoes 6 7 1 2 5 8 2 6 5
, , , ,
2 2 2 6, 7 7
—

C a p i tal ci ties 7 2 7 3 8 5 1 1 5 , , , , , se c retaries , 2 2, 2 3 , 2 9 , 49 ,

2 0 7 , 2 74 1 58
C aps red
, , 3 2 , 3 4 , 7 4, 7 6 C hurches nati e ,
v , 1 5 7, 1 58,
C ara an
v s, 3 , 3 6 4 6, 5 0 —
2 2 0 , 2 3 9 2 49 , 2 7 4 —

2 82
 I ND E X
C i ilized people
v ,
14 E dinburgh 2 5 , ,
29
C la rk, Mr .
,
25 E dwardo 1 5 8 ,

C lima te 2 0 4 6 5 2
, ,
— Egypt, 3 , 8 0 , 9 9 , 2 0 3 , 2 7 2
C lo th 3 2 3 4 3 7 4 4
, , , , , 4 5, 1 0 1 , E lders 2 2 0 2 3 9
, ,

1 9 2, 2 1 1 , 2 2 3 E lep han t t usks see I o , v ry

C offee raising 1 7 3
-
,
E ngland 3 4 2 1 2 4 49 , , , , , ,
5 9,
C offi ns 1 8 1 ,
7 0 , 7 7 , 8 0 , 9 0 , 9 8 , 9 9, 1 1 0
C ommunion ser ice 2 04 v ,
E g n lish 5 7 ; ,

C on er ts 2 4 8 2 6 7 see also
v , , ,
go ernor 2 63 ;
v ,

C h i ti n C h i ti n
r s a ,
r s a s h a tc h e ts 5 3 ; ,

C o pp er for co ffin 1 8 2 1 8 4 ,
—
lan guage 4 1 7 1 , , , 7 7, 9 7 ;
C owr y h ells -
1 05
S 1 36 1 72 , , , , missionaries 7 6 , , 1 0 5 , 1 0 6,
277 1 1 0 , 1 3 6, 2 33 , 2 5 7 ;
C reed , th e, 1 59 people , 8 7, 9 5 , 1 44, 1 5 2,
2 03 ;
D a ily T e legra p h, th e, 1, 1 9, oldiers 3 8 0 2 0 3
s , , ,

4 7, 2 73 E urope E uropean , 66 , ,
135
D audi Oh wa King 2 7 7 , ,
1 4 6, 191
D ea th , of nati e C h ristians v ,
Evil s p irits see Sp i it il , r s, ev

1 5 7, 1 6 2 , 1 6 3 , 1 66, 2 1 4 Execu tioners 2 1 0 2 1 6 2 3 4 , , ,

2 1 9 , 23 4 2 4 3 , 2 4 8 ; —

of missionaries , 3 0 , 3 6, 8 2 , F able of a c at , 1 5 0- 1 5 2

8 4 , 2 2 6, 2 3 2 , 269 Farming 1 7 2 , , 1 73

D eekes , Mr , . 2 68 F ences of ti ger g rass , 74, 7 5,

D isco veries 2 7 ,
9 1 , 1 0 7, 2 60

D iseases see Afric a/ ii d/ is F ever ,

1, 42 5 1, —
5 9, 8 3, 8 4,
2 2 5 , 2 6 8 , 2 69

D oc tors , Ch ris tian ,

28, 6 6, F la g s, fl g t a s aff , 7, 6 0, 61,

90, 1 1 5, 2 5 1 1 0 1, 25 2

D o g s 3 7 5 2 6 0 63 14 5
, , , , ,
F ood , 3 3, 4 0 43 , —
4 6, 5 1 , 6 0 ,

D reams 6 7 1 3 7 1 64
, , , ,
73 , 8 4, 8 7, 8 8, 9 6, 1 0 5,

D rums see Afri c a ii to m to ms

,
/ - 1 1 6, 1 3 6, 1 72

D u mu lira , 1 5 6 , 1 5 7 F rench missionaries , 1 04

1 0 5, 1 10, 1 4 3, 1 4 4, 1 49 ,
2 2 8 , 2 3 3 , 2 5 7, 2 5 9

28 3
 I ND E X
G a b u ng a , 1 2 6, 1 3 2 , 2 3 2 House of L ords , 9
G ermany ,
26 Houses h ut s 5 , , , 2 1, 7 5, 8 0 ,
G ermans ,
2 03 8 8 , 9 1 , 1 47 , 1 7 3
G ifts 8 , , 79 2 2 5 , 2 60 , 2 6 6
Go d 3 4
, , , 1 3 , 1 4 , 2 4 , 3 1 , 5 6, Ho w I F ou nd Li v ings tone 2 9 ,

69, 7 8 , 8 3 , 9 5 , 1 0 0, 1 0 8, Human sacri fi ces 1 90 1 9 2 , ,

1 18 1 30, —
1 42 , 1 53, 1 61, 1 97
193 Hutch inson M r , , . 23
God s ,
h eath en ,
1 1 2 , 1 1 9 1 22 , —
Huts see Ho u s es
, , h/ a ts
235
G ol d an d silver 1 4 7 ,
Indian coolies 3 3 ;
, ,

G olden R ule 5 ,
merchan ts 3 3 ,

G or d on G eneral 8 0 9 9 2 7 1 ;
, , , ,
I n ects
s A f ic n
, s ee r a birds and

R ev Cyril 2 5 6 2 5 8 2 6 5
.
, , ,
ins e c ts
G o s pels 1 0 1 1 5 6 1 5 7 2 2 1
, , , , ,
I nterpreters , 1 4, 3 7, 4 1, 7 7,
2 5 2, 2 6 1 79, 8 0, 1 1 8, 1 1 9, 121
G re a t B ri tain , 60, s ee l
a so 1 7 0, 2 6 1
E ng la nd, E ng lis h I vory ,
5 , 6, 1 2 , 1 7 , 3 2 , 1 0 2,
G rindstones 3 2 5 3 , , , 93 1 09 , 1 1 1 , 1 4 7
G uns gunpowder 7
, , , 3 2 , 7 4,
7 6, 1 0 1, 1 3 0, 2 06, 2 07, J e us
s Ch rist , 1 4 , 1 6, 7 9 , 1 0 1 ,
2 2 3, 2 2 6 1 0 4, 1 4 7, 1 48 , 1 5 5, 1 61,
1 92
Hammo ck fo r tr veling
a , 46 , J un gles , 2 , 4 0 , 4 3 , 4 6,
66
Handkerch ie fs 3 2 34 ,
—
Ka gei 7 2 , , 8 4, 1 2 0
Hannin gton B ish op , , 2 24 Kakumba 2 1 3 ,
—
2 16
2 2 8, 2 32 Kalema King , , 256
Har twell M r 3 7 , .
,
Ka tikiro , th e, 1 7, 1 33, 1 65 ,
Hea th en 1 0 1 0 0 ; , ,
1 92, 1 99 , 2 0 1, 2 08 2 1 2,
—

relig ion , 1 0 1 2,—

1 0 5, 1 1 6, 2 22 , 2 3 5 , see also P ri m e
1 29, 1 3 5 M inis ter
Hoes , 94 K uta
a , 1 7, 187
Honga , 4 3 — 4 6, 5 8 Kidza, 2 1 4, 2 17

284
 I ND E X
M adag a s c ar , 2 8 M o h amme dans , 2 5 7
M a g ic lantern , 3 3 , 9 3 M oney s ee A frican mo ney
, ,

M a p of A fric a , given Mu tes a, o

C w ry -s he lls
79 M oses ,
1 6, 1 2 0
a er
M p a , 1 44, 1 4 5 M pw a pwa 4 2 , , 4 3 , 4 6,
ar rs
M ty , 2 8 , 2 1 4 2 1 8, —
2 26 , 5 6, 5 8 , 7 0 , 8 2 , 8 4
248 M u fta 7 1 7 7 1 4 6
, , ,

Ma sudi 1 9 0 , , 1 9 1 , 1 93 M uj a s i 2 0 4 2 1 9
,
—

M edi c ine 3 2 , , 8 4, 1 25 , 1 2 6, M u k a sa , 1 1 1 1 3 4 —
, 1 5 8, al os

1 62, 1 7 9, 2 5 1 , 2 5 7 name of two young men,

M engo 2 0 7, 1 5 8, 1 63
M erc hant 3 3 s, M usi c boxes , 3 3 3 4 1 49
-
, ,

M issionaries 1 0 , , 2 5 3 1,
—
8 0, M u tesa, King 4 2 6 7 1 2 00 ; ,
-
,
—

88, 90 93,—
98, 1 0 4 1 0 6,
—
a s k s fo r missionaries 19 ; ,

1 3 0, 2 20, 22 1, 2 70 , 2 73 , d onation s to th e mission ,

see al so o
C a th lics , 8 2 , 8 7 9 0, 1 7 1 , 1 7 2 ;
—

Frenc h Mis s iona ries d ress , 9;

Mis ion s b ot
a s, 8 2, 1 96 2 0 5 ,
—
gift to S tanley 8 ; ,

2 6 1 , 2 62 ; letter urging h aste 7 1 7 2 ; , ,

h ouse s, 8 2, 88, 90, 1 73 letters to 7 7 7 9 ; ,

-

1 7 5 , 1 9 9, 2 2 0, 2 5 5, 2 66 ; members f famil y f or O , av

ch ool
s s, 8 2, 8 8 ing C hristianity 1 69 ,

M issions ,
A frican , 47, 228, 23 6 ;
9 1 , 2 24 2 2 8 , 2 5 5 2 7 9
— - m oth er s b urial 1 7 9 1 9 0
’
,
—

M ohamme d ,
1 2, 1 3, 1 6, 1 3 8, p la c e 9 7 3 7 5 7 6 9 8
a , , , , , ,

1 39 1 1 6, 1 79 ;
M oh a mme d an , pre en t from mis ion
s s s a

Ko ran ries 7 9 8 5 8 7, ,
— '

d res s , 13 ; pretty sa yings 9 4 9 5 ; , ,

prayers , 1 3 8 1 40 , — promis s to en d lave ell

e s -
s

religion ,
1 2, 1 3- 1 8 , 1 0 5, ing 1 0 2 ; ,

1 29 , 1 3 5, 1 4 5, 1 46, 1 64 , re c eptions at p l c e 8 9 a a , ,

2 54 ; 7 6 8 2,
—
8 6 8 8,—
1 3 2 1 34 ;—

S abb a th , 4, 1 3 reporte d c ruelty ,

20 ;

28 6
 I ND E X
ser ices in palace
v , 98 ; Palace , 9, 73, 75, 7 6, 1 0 1,
Sickness 1 0 6 1 1 5 , ,
1 0 7, 1 3 2, 2 1 1 , 2 2 8
1 94 ; Palms 7 3 ,

suffe ing r a nd death ,

1 94 , Parables read 1 0 3 1 0 4 , ,

195 ; Parker B is hop 2 69

, ,

s wayed by impulse , 108 Pearls 1 4 7 ,

1 10 ; Pearson M 1 0 6 1 0 7 , r
.
, , , 1 3 7,
urges excuses , 1 93 ; 1 4 6, 1 5 2 , 1 5 4
W i es
v 20 81, , , 1 0 3, 1 1 5, P h ilipo 1 5 8 1 63 1 6 6 2 1 0
, ,
—
,

1 96 Pla gue th 1 5 6 1 6 2
, e, ,

M wang a King 2 0 0 2 6 0 ;
, ,
—
Plantains 7 3 1 1 6 1 66 1 7 3, , , , ,

becomes cruel and tyran 1 8 5, 1 9 8

nic a l, 20 0, 2 3 3 23 8 ; —
Pombe 1 2 1 5 4 4
, , , , 73
causes dea is op th Of B h Pra yers C h ristian
, , 23, 1 1 6,
Hannington 2 2 4 2 2 7 ; ,
—
1 5 3 , 2 1 8 , 22 8 ;
presen t to 2 2 8 2 3 0 ; ,
—
h ea then 1 1 3 1 7 9 , ,

promise broken and Chri s Prime minister 9 1 2 1 see , , ,

tians slain 2 4 2 2 4 3 ; , , also K tiki a ro

Seeks M acka y ai d w h en ’
s Printing prin tin g press 3 3
,
-
, ,

in exile 25 9 , 1 0 7 1 3 6 see also M k

, , ac

M w ira , 1 67, 1 68 ay p i nting

, r

Processions 3 6 7 4 1 3 2 , , ,

ueen 1 7 9
N a ma so le, q ,
—
1 90 Pro testant Pro tes tan ts 1 0 4 , , ,

a of anda 1 0
N vy Ug , 1 3 7, 248
N w E n gland S tates
e , 9 Pum p , 1 75 , 1 76
N ile R i er 3 v , Pupils , s ee S ch oo l s

N u a , 2 3 2 , 2 3 9 , 2 40
Q ueen mot h er , 1 1 5, 1 29, 2 5 4
O F la he rty, Mr Q ueen Victoria
’
.
, . l 46 1 49, —
, 1 , 1 0 6, 1 0 9,
1 5 4 1 6 7,
—
1 7 1, 1 80, 1 9 5, 1 4 9, 2 3 1
2 2 7, 2 32
O N eill , M r , 2 5 ,
’
. 7 0, 7 2, 82 R ailway s 2 8 , ,
2 73
O xen ,
5 2 , 5 8 - 6 8, 8 2, 1 7 8 R a in r a iny
, s a e son , 4 9, 5 9,
6 1 , 64

2 87
 I ND E X
R eading ,
readers , 7 1 , 97 , 1 0 7 , S eru w a nga , 2 1 2 - 2 1 6
1 3 5 , 1 3 6, 1 5 7, 1 59, 1 65 , S hields 19 8 2 0 6
, ,

2 2 1 , 2 3 1 , 2 3 7 24 3 , 2 5 6 —
Sketch book 2 2 5
-
,

R e c eptions , 8, 9, 7 6 8 2, 8 6
—
Sl ery la es 1 2
av ,
S v , , 1 7, 1 8 , 2 9 ,
88 3 2 , 9 3 , 9 6, 9 7 , 1 0 1, 1 1 1,
R eli g ion , see C hris ti e/n, 1 44 , 1 47, 1 5 5, 1 69 - 1 7 2 ,
Hea th en , o
M ha mm eda n 1 92, 274
R i vers , 3 3 8 , 5 1 , 62, 64, 6 5 , Smit h , Dr . J h o n ,
2 5 , 4 3 , 4 6,
84 °
7 0, 8 3 ;
of 64 6 5 6 7
c ro s s mg , , , L ieutenant C . Sh ergo ld, 2 5 ,
R oads road building 8
,
-
, , 2 8, 43 , 4 5, 4 6, 70, 7 6, 79,
3 4, 5 0 5 8, 7 0, 7 3, 7 4
—
8 1- 8 3 , 8 7 , 1 4 8
R ober to 2 3 8 2 3 9 , , Soldier see s, A fr ic an s o ldi ers

R ober tson M r James , .

,
23, Spears 1 98 , , 2 0 6, 2 2 6, 2 3 7,
36 ; 238
Mr William 2 5
.
,
S piri t h uts 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 4 1 3 3
-
, ,
—

R oman C a th olic see C a tho S piri t an c estral 1 1 8 1 2 6 ;

, , ,

lic e il 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 5 7
v , , , , , ,

Ru b a ga , 7 3 , 1 62 , 1 6 7 1 69 , 2 7 4
R u s aka , 1 82 Stanley ,
Henry M .
, 1 29, 7 1 ,
—

7 7 , 7 8, 8 5 , 1 3 0 , 2 63 2 7 1 —

Sa bb ath , the C h risti n a , 4, 8 8, 2 79

9 8 , 1 0 1 , 1 0 6 , 2 04 ; S t e a m e n g i n e s s team ,

th e o ammedan 4 1 3
M h , , launch es 3 2 3 7 7 2 94 , , , , ,

Sabbath breaking 1 0 9 -
, 1 6 7 , 2 61
Samweli 2 44 2 4 6 ,
—
Steamships , 1 0 0, 2 7 3
Sar ah 1 64 1 66
,
—
S unda y ,
s ee S a bba th, the
Sch ool ho use 9 0 9 8 , , C hris tia n
Schools sch olars 7 1 8 2 9 6
, , , , ,

9 7, 1 07, 1 5 7, 1 58, 1 63, T eachers , 7 7 , 1 63 , 2 2 0 , 2 2 1 ,

222 2 79
Scripture see , B ible T eleph one 1 00 ,

S eb w ato , 2 1 3 T ele g ra ph 1 0 0 ,

Semb er a, 1 5 5 , 1 58 T en C omm n dments a , 5, 1 5

2 88