compose the main inland features. This blank in the physical outline is paralleled by the absence of any details as to the populations that inhabit the various quarters of the continent. The south is apportioned to the Hottentots, the north is given to Barbary and Egypt, the eastern coast to Zanzibar and Mozambique, but the western coast and the centre are without a name. Thus it is evident that, seventy years ago, Africa, in all its larger proportions, was an unknown land; the European, who did by chance visit its shores, commonly went for the purposes of the detestable slave trade, and speedily retreated, leaving a curse behind him; here and there feeble settlements tried to maintain a precarious hold upon the coast, but no organised attempt was made to solve the geographical problems of Africa, much less to civilise and to redeem it.

The map of 1890 is in every way a contrast; it is enriched by the labours of a noble succession of discoverers, who have pushed their way from north to south, and from east to west; it indicates the activities of the colonist, and the trading company, of the Government official, and of the Christian missionary. Though even yet there is ample room for detailed information, the main features of the continent are known; the great rivers have been traced to their sources, the magnificent series of Eastern lakes has been delineated, the areas inhabited by the larger native tribes have been defined; the German, the Dutchman, the Portuguese, the Frenchman, and the irrepressible Englishman, each has allocated to himself vast regions which will gradually be submitted to civilising influences. Side by side with these energetic forces, the Christian Church has been at work. The Church Missionary Society, the London Missionary Society, the Society of the Church of Scotland, the Missions of the Free Church of Scotland, and the University Mission, have steadily settled down to evangelise along the Zambesi and the Eastern lakes; the Wesleyan Missionary Society, with a noble courage, has not flinched from the occupation of the deadly shores of the Gold Coast; the London Missionary Society, pioneered by Robert Moffat, has pressed forward from Cape Colony due north and east; the American churches have settled upon the southern parts of the Western Coast; the Guiness Mission has been recently founded in the Bololo district, and our own Baptist Mission, starting from Fernando Po, has advanced by a process of sap and siege, until to-day it can look out eastward, from its most advanced post in the basin of the Congo, with the hope that one day it shall join hands with the Christian forces that are quietly pushing

their way westward from the shores of the Indian Ocean. When that time comes, a line of light will bisect the Dark Continent, prelude of the eternal day.

We are ready now for a brief account of the successive steps by which our own Mission has been advanced to its present stage.

PART I.

THE CAMEROONS MISSION.

IN the year 1833 the Bill for the Abolition of Slavery in all British Possessions passed both Houses of Parliament and received the Royal assent, and in 1834 that abolition was an accomplished fact. Amongst the slaves who were liberated in the Island of Jamaica were some who had been kidnapped from the West African coast, and in their bondage had obtained the liberty wherewith Christ makes men free. It became the desire of their hearts that they might be permitted to carry the Gospel to the heathen homes whence they had been torn. When it was suggested that it was a perilous undertaking, and that possibly they might be enslaved again, they answered with a noble simplicity, "We have been made slaves for men, we can be made slaves for Christ." But those who went forth upon this business possessed but little training, and were backed by no adequate organisation, and it soon became evident that their efforts would end in failure; then it was that, in the year 1840, the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society felt called upon to carry forward the work that seemed on the very point of extinction. It should, however, never be forgotten that the initial step was taken by the African himself; all that followed sprang from that beginning.

The Rev. John Clarke, a missionary in Jamaica, and Dr. Prince, a medical man practising in the island, undertook the work of pioneering; they explored the West coast in the neighbourhood of the Niger, but finally settled upon the small island of Fernando Po, lying in the Bight of Biafra, as affording the best location for the infant Mission. It is within easy reach of the mainland, lying nearly opposite the mouth of the Cameroons River. At Clarence, the chief place in the

island, there was a considerable body of liberated slaves; inland dense heathenism prevailed. The pioneers rightly thought that by beginning there under the shelter of a settled government, they would be able to gain their first experiences in comparative safety, and use the island as the base for further operations.

In 1842 a tiny church of five members was formed at Clarence; in that year Clarke and Prince determined to visit England, but the vessel in which they embarked was carried by adverse winds towards the West Indies, and presently they found themselves once more in Jamaica. This unexpected visit, with the news the missionaries had to tell, roused the enthusiasm of the Jamaica churches, and many persons offered themselves for the service of the Mission. Once more Clarke and Prince set out for England, which, this time, was reached in due

course.

Their visit was fraught with momentous consequences to the whole future of the African work, for amongst the hearers who crowded to listen to the story the brethren had to tell were Alfred Saker and his wife.

ALFRED SAKER

was born in a small hamlet, lying amongst the sunny Wealds of Kent, in the year 1814; at the age of ten, having learned all the village school could teach him, he entered his father's workshop as a wheelwright. Meanwhile he learned the use of globes, did a little astronomy, and proved himself a born mechanic. He read all the books that came in his way, his swift and vigorous mind retaining and assimilating information upon every variety of topic; nothing came amiss. Thus, unknown to himself, the youth was being prepared for his future work; the Divine Mind could say of him as of another instrument of His purpose: "I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me."

Later, when young Saker was strolling through the village street of Sevenoaks, one Sunday afternoon, the singing in the little Baptist chapel attracted him, and he entered the building. The pulpit was occupiel by a nameless preacher-a supply-but the words spoken went straight to the hearer's heart. It kindled to a blaze the embers that already lay upon the altar, and that very night Alfred Saker determined to give himself to the service and kingdom of Jesus Christ. With characteristic decision, he quickly united himself with the church in his native village, and in the intervals of labour began to

teach and to preach Jesus Christ. After his marriage with Miss Helen Jessop, a lady of a nature kindred to his own, the old house at home was broken up, and he removed to Devonport, where his intelligence and general ability soon gained him a good position in the engineering department of the Government Dockyard. It was while there that he heard Mr. Clarke and Dr. Prince give an account of their labours and of the prospects of the African Mission. Their words helped to form into a definite resolution thoughts and purposes that for a good while had been forming in Mr. Saker's mind. He resolved to offer himself for the work, his wife supported him in his resolution, and, after some delay, they were accepted by the Committee for service in Africa.

In 1843, in company with Mr. Clarke, they sailed for Fernando Po, going r Jamaica. The voyage was no pleasure trip; the travellers endured manifold discomforts, accentuated by the brutal conduct of the captain and the crew. The little party reached their destination early in 1844, where they received the heartiest welcome. No time was lost. "From my landing until now," wrote Mr. Saker, "I have been constantly engaged in what may be called the outworks of our enterprise." He put his skill as artisan and engineer at the service of the Mission; he began the erection of a suitable house for the missionaries, and set up a printing press, himself casting the necessary fittings. The African climate claimed its inevitable dues; the ant destroyed his stock of clothing, a tornado tore the roof off his hut, and again and again fever prostrated him, but his courage and patience were indomitable; each fresh demand only seemed to call forth a fresh reserve of power.

BIMBIA.

Meanwhile he began to look longingly toward the mainland, where already at Bimbia, a most unwholesome spot, lying a little to the north of the Cameroons River, a tentative station had been established. In the middle of 1845, Mr. Saker landed on the southern bank of the Cameroons River, and, after prolonged negotiations, settled at King A'Kwa's town, about twenty miles from the sea coast; having with him Horton Johnson, a staunch negro convert from Clarence. He found the people in a state of extreme degradation; the men commonly idled about, except when engaged in palavers or in warfare, they traded a little, and drank a good deal; upon the women fell the main burden of caring for the house and