Gospel, more than it looks to me. I am very happy over all that has been
done these past fifteen years, but it is God who did it. To Him belongs all
the glory. Mission houses, schools, and a church have been built. Wicked
heathen customs have been stopped. Chiefs have quit fighting, and women are
much better off than they were when I came. Let us praise God for this and
let us go on and do greater things. The Lord will help us and will bless
our work."

Mary was happy the way the work was going, but she was not satisfied. She
wanted to go to other places.

"This cannibal land of deep darkness with woods of spooky mystery is like a
magnet," said Mary Slessor. "It draws me on and on."

"Where is this country where you want to work?" asked Miss Wright, one of
the teachers at the Girls' Institute at Calabar.

"It lies to the west of the Cross River. It stretches for miles and miles
toward the Niger River."

"Haven't any missionaries been there?"

"None have gone into the forest. Missionaries and traders have gone along
the edge of it when they went up the Cross River."

"What tribes live in this dark and mysterious country?" asked Miss Wright.

"The Ibo tribe lives in most of the country, but they are ruled by the Aros
clan," said Mary.

"Who are they? Tell me something about them, Mary. I know so little about
the tribes, except those who come to Calabar or send their girls to our
Institute."

"The Aros clan are a wise but tricky people. They live in thirty villages
near the district of Arochuku, where I would like to begin a mission. They
are strong and rule the Ibo tribe because of their trade and religion.
They trade slaves, which their religion furnishes. When they cannot get
enough slaves that way, they raid Ibo villages and capture the people who
live there and sell them."

"You say their religion furnishes them with slaves? How is that possible?"

"The Ibo tribe and the Aros pray to the juju god. They believe the juju god
lives in a tree. They think this tree is holy. Each village has its own god
and sacred tree, but the main juju used to be about a mile from Arochuku."

"But you haven't told me about the slaves," interrupted Miss Wright.

"I am just coming to that," said Mary. "This main juju, called the Long
Juju, was reached by a winding road that goes through a dense jungle and
leads at last to a lake. In the center of the lake is an island on which
was the Long Juju. Here hundreds of people c