CHAP. V AN INDUSTRIAL MISSION 77 



The Mission was founded in 1891 by a party of Scotch 

 philanthropists, who were dissatisfied with the results of the work 

 of existing missions. They therefore resolved to start a fresh one 

 on a purely industrial and non-sectarian basis. Dr. Stewart, the 

 head of the well-known Lovedale Mission in Bechuanaland, was 

 sent into the country to find a suitable site. He selected 

 Kibwezi, from its apparent healthiness, the excellence of its 

 water, and its convenience as a place of call, it being about 

 half-way from Mombasa to Machakos. No doubt the beauty 

 of the situation was partly responsible for the choice. 



The two principal objections to the site are that, owing to 

 the luxuriance of the surrounding vegetation, it appears to be 

 very unhealthy, and that an Industrial Mission ought to have 

 been settled • in a well-populated district. At Kibwezi the 

 natives only number some two or three hundred, and they are 

 not a promising set of pupils. For years they have been 

 demoralised by Masai oppression and by intercourse with 

 Suahili caravans. They appear to do nothing except for 

 payment, and the children require higher wages for attendance 

 at school than their parents do for work in the plantations. 



At the time of my visit the staff consisted of three Euro- 

 peans, of whom Mr. Watson was the only member of the 

 original party of missionaries. The superintendent of the 

 station, Dr. Charters, had arrived a few weeks previously. He 

 will be known to readers of In Darkest Africa, for he was 

 in charge of the mission-steamer, the Peace, which carried Mr. 

 Stanley up the Congo from the Pool to the mouth of the 

 Aruwhimi.^ 



The British East Africa Company had given the Mission a 

 grant of 100 square miles of land around the station. This is 

 being cleared, and an experimental farm has been established 

 upon it. Mr. Pattison, a gardener, who came out with Dr. 

 Charters, was then trying to rear the vine and various fruit 

 trees, as well as testing the suitability of many different kinds 

 of grain. 



As Mr. Watson had been rather unwell, at Dr. Charters' 

 suggestion he took a holiday next day, and we went off together 

 for a day's fishing and collecting along the Kibwezi river. This 



1 Dr. Charters disappeared when out shooting near Kibwezi in the autumn of 1894 ; 

 there is now practically no doubt that he was murdered by Masai. 



