eeming population, rain, and
friendly chief, who could easily be swayed by an energetic prudent
missionary. The evangelist must not depend on foreign support other
than an occasional supply of beads and calico; coffee is indigenous, and
so is sugar-cane. When detained by ulcerated feet in Manyuema I made
sugar by pounding the cane in the common wooden mortar of the country,
squeezing out the juice very hard and boiling it till thick; the defect
it had was a latent acidity, for which I had no lime, and it soon all
fermented. I saw sugar afterwards at Ujiji made in the same way, and
that kept for months. Wheat and rice are cultivated by the Arabs in all
this upland region; the only thing a missionary needs in order to secure
an abundant supply is to follow the Arab advice as to the proper season
for sowing. Pomegranates, guavas, lemons and oranges are abundant in
Unyanyembe; mangoes flourish, and grape vines are beginning to be
cultivated; papaws grow everywhere. Onions, radishes, pumpkins and
watermelons prosper, and so would most European vegetables, if the
proper seasons were selected for planting, and the most important point
attended to in bringing the seeds. These must never be soldered in tins
or put in close boxes; a process of sweating takes place when they are
confined, as in a box or hold of the ship, and the power of vegetating
is destroyed, but garden seeds put up in common brown paper, and hung in
the cabin on the voyage, and not exposed to the direct rays of the sun
afterwards, I have found to be as good as in England.
It would be a sort of Robinson Crusoe life, but with abundant materials
for surrounding oneself with comforts, and improving the improvable
among the natives. Clothing would require but small expense: four suits
of strong tweed served me comfortably for five years. Woollen clothing
is the best; if all wool, it wears long and prevents chills. The
temperature here in the beginning of winter ranges from 62 deg. to 75 deg. Fahr.
In summer it seldom goes above 84 deg., as the country generally is from
3600 to 4000 feet high. Gently undulating plains with outcropping
tree-covered granite hills on the ridges and springs in valleys will
serve as a description of the country.
_29th May, 1872._--Halima ran away in a quarrel with Ntaoeka: I went
over to Sultan bin Ali and sent a note after her, but she came back of
her own accord, and only wanted me to come outside and tell her to
enter. I did so, an
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