GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



301 



was directed to report to the next yearly 

 meeting respecting the feasibility of establish- 

 ing a high-class school for young men. The 

 policy followed by the Home Mission Commit- 

 tee in the organization and execution of the 

 work intrusted to it was discussed. On the 

 one side it was feared that the committee was 

 departing from the usages of the Society ; on 

 the other side it was shown that the committee 

 represented an almost similar organism that was 

 vital when Friends' principles nourished most 

 in England. The committee was reappointed. 

 The meeting was interested in the discussion 

 of a possible manner in which it might use its 

 influence for the preservation of peace between 

 nations whose relations appear precarious, 

 without becoming involved in political compli- 

 cations. The Meeting for Sufferings was asked 

 " prayerfully and carefully " to watch, and as 

 the way may open, to promote by deputation 

 or otherwise, peaceful solutions. A deputa- 

 tion was appointed to attend the General Con- 

 ference of yearly meetings to be held in Rich- 

 mond, Ind., in September. 



Friends' Missions. The annual meeting of the 

 Friends' (English) Foreign Mission Associa- 

 tion was held May 23. Mr. Arthur Pease 

 presided. The income of the Association for 

 the year had been 8,587, and the number 

 of missionaries employed 24. A medical mis- 

 sionary academy had been opened in Mada- 



gascar, and diplomas had been granted to eight 

 Malagasy students. The mission in that coun- 

 try returned 33,000 adherents, of whom 19,- 

 500 were regular attendants at worship. The 

 work carried on there was chiefly educational. 

 At the Syrian mission 5,121 cases had been 

 treated at the dispensary, and the attending 

 physician had made more than 1,000 visits. A 

 hospital had been opened at Ramleh, Pales- 

 tine. Favorable reports were also received 

 from the missions in Natal, India, and China. 

 The Friends' Tract Association had expended 

 more than 200, and had a balance of 50. 

 The total issue of tracts had been 130,194, 

 against 103,684 in the previous year, with 23,- 

 000 leaflets in addition. A considerable pro- 

 portion of these tracts were in foreign lan- 

 guages. The standing committee of the London 

 Yearly Meeting brought in reports from France, 

 Germany, Australasia, Norway, Denmark, Con- 

 stantinople, Syria and Palestine, Madagascar, 

 India, Natal, and China, representing the work 

 of the agencies of the society as in most places 

 hopeful and well sustained. While enlightened 

 Christian education was everywhere advanced, 

 the military laws of France and Germany were 

 the only hindrances to Friends in those coun- 

 tries. The Friends' Home Mission had ex- 

 pended 1,837 during the year, the most of it 

 in aid of Friends performing missionary labors 

 in various parts of the country. 



G 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



Africa. Although not fewer than the usual 

 number of travelers have been in Africa dur- 

 ing the year, and the interests of trade have 

 been served to some extent by the increase of 

 topographical knowledge, yet the gain to geo- 

 graphical science is not large. The chief in- 

 terest has centered on the expedition under- 

 taken by Stanley for the relief of Emin Pasha 

 not to bring him away, for he has declared 

 that he will not leave his province, but to 

 open a route of communication and relieve 

 him from his position of isolation from the 

 civilized world, beleaguered as he is by jealous 

 tribes ready to fall upon his troops at any 

 moment. Since he has been able to send let- 

 ters and packages by way of Uganda and Zan- 

 zibar, collections of birds, butterflies, and moths, 

 that he has collected, have been received in 

 London, and accounts of short journeys made 

 in the vicinity of his station. In one of these 

 he visited the Albert Nyanza, and found that, 

 since 1879, a low island, about one kilo- 

 metre in length, has been formed not far south 

 from the former station of Mahagi, by the de- 

 posits of rivers flowing into the lake. He 

 thinks the western part of the lake is gradually 

 filling up. He describes the character and 

 customs of the Monbuttu, their weapons and 

 implements of various kinds. In recent letters 



he reiterates his resolution not to desert his 

 province ; he can not abandon the results of 

 his twelve years' work of civilization, and still 

 hopes to restore order in his domain ; but he is 

 most anxious to secure some means of regular 

 communication with the outside world. His 

 present facilities depend entirely on the caprice 

 of the despotic sovereigns of Uganda and Un- 

 joro, and it is impossible for him to receive 

 arms and munitions of war. If a free route 

 could be opened for him, he might be able to 

 defend his own province, since he has a force 

 of about 1,400 Egyptians and Soudanese. In 

 February last he met with a serious loss by 

 the burning of Wadelai, his principal station, 

 by which large stores of ivory and provisions, 

 as well as much of his private property, were 

 destroyed. The arms and ammunition were 

 saved with difficulty. Emin was compelled, 

 partly by the difficulty of provisioning, to give 

 up the stations at Lado and Gondokoro, which 

 were important as terminals of the navigation 

 of the Nile ; but he has on the other hand ex- 

 tended his sway toward the south, and founded 

 a new station, Ssongo, on an island near the 

 western shore of Albert Lake. 



In one of his excursions he discovered a new 

 river flowing from the Usungora mountains to 

 Albert Lake, and called Kakibbi by the Wa- 

 songora, and Duera by the Wa-mboga. Near 



