THE BIG GAME OF AFRICA 



It is therefore a deplorable fact that many " globe 

 trotters " and settlers in heathen lands often criticise and 

 condemn foreign missions. Not only do they sneer at 

 certain individual missionaries for their supposed ineffi- 

 ciency, ignorance, bigotry, and selfishness, but they also 

 condemn mission work as a whole, maintaining that com- 

 paratively very little good is accomplished by these 

 agencies, considering the great amount of money spent 

 for mission work. They often say that not only certain 

 unwise actions of the missionary are objectionable, but 

 that even his very presence in the foreign fields is unnec- 

 essary, and that he only irritates the masses and provokes 

 them to hostility toward the white merchant and his gov- 

 ernment. Further, it is asserted by the opponents of 

 mission work that the missionary's influence tends to 

 make the natives lazy, dishonest, and disrespectful toward 

 their white masters. 



The main reason why missionary work is so severely 

 criticised by a great many travelers and settlers lies in 

 the indifference they have toward the very Lord of mis- 

 sions Himself, and the missionary's Bible, which they 

 dislike because it tells the truth about men and condemns 

 corruption and sin. A number of years ago an old Afri- 

 can queen had heard of mirrors, and believing that she 

 was the most beautiful woman of her tribe, she ordered 

 one of these strange things to be sent to her " palace." 

 A mirror was bought and taken to the queen. But when 

 she looked into it and beheld her frightful features, she 

 became so infuriated that she not only threw the mirror 

 on a stone and broke it, but also forbade, by death penalty, 

 anyone in her kingdom to own a mirror. One single 



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