22O Wild Life in Central Africa. 



long distances in search of it. I know several old native 

 chiefs like this, and they are happy souls with little to 

 worry them, except the difficulty of finding enough silver 

 to pay the annual hut tax for all their huts. The younger 

 generation are also pretty fond of beer, and they often 

 waste a great amount of maize in making it, and conse- 

 quently suffer from hunger at the end of the hot season, 

 before the new crops, which are planted as soon as the 

 rains break, have had time to bear. 



The " White Fathers " Mission do a considerable amount 

 of good work among the Angoni, and they have mission 

 schools in most of the more important villages, in charge of 

 educated native teachers, who get a small wage. If a 

 youth or maiden wishes to attend such a school they are 

 welcome, and after being able to repeat " the Lord's 

 Prayer/' they are presented with a chain and crucifix, and 

 they are very proud of this symbol ; but I question if they 

 fully understand its meaning, and I think it is rather absurd 

 to give it to them. They simply look at it as a pretty 

 ornament, and I have had boys who wore them who were 

 just as liable to lie and steal as others who lacked this 

 symbol of Christianity. 



Most of the " White Fathers " are Frenchmen, and they 

 are broad-minded and intelligent men ; but I consider that 

 they are going a " bit too fast," and no native should be 

 given a crucifix until it is proved that he is wholly con- 

 verted. The missionaries live in good brick houses, and 

 usually have livestock, such as cattle, pigs, and sheep, and 

 a fine vegetable garden. I think they are very wise in 

 making themselves comfortable, as without good health 

 they would be unable to perform their duties of attending 

 to the sick and holding services throughout their district. 



All of them, both the priests and the laymen, come out 

 for the term of their natural lives, and they do not go home 

 unless they are seized with severe illness which needs 

 medical attention that cannot be got in this country. This 

 Catholic mission is much more broad-minded than the 

 Scotch and English missions in the country, and, personally, 



