366 DECLINE OF MOHAMMEDANISM. CHAP. XIII. 



From boyhood upwards we have been accustomed, from 

 time to time, to read in books of travels about the great 

 advances annually made by Mohammedanism in Africa. 

 The rate at which this religion spreads was said to be so 

 rapid, that in after days, in our own pretty extensive 

 travels, we have constantly been on the look out for the 

 advancing wave from North to South, which, it was pro- 

 phesied, would soon reduce the entire continent to the 

 faith of the false prophet. The only foundation that we 

 can discover for the assertions referred to, and for others 

 of more recent date, is the fact that in a remote corner of 

 North- Western Africa the Fulahs, and Mandingoes, and 

 some others in Northern Africa, as mentioned by Dr. 

 Barth, have made conquests of territory ; but even they 

 care so very little for the extension of their faith, that 

 after the conquest no jDains whatever are taken to indoc- 

 trinate the adults of the tribe. This is in exact accord- 

 ance with the impression we have received from our 

 intercourse with Mohammedans and Christians. The 

 followers of Christ alone are anxious to propagate their 

 faith. A quasi philanthropist would certainly never need 

 to recommend the followers of Islam, whom we have met, 

 to restrain their benevolence by preaching that " Charity 

 should begin at home." 



Though Selele and his companions were bound to their 

 masters by domestic ties, the only new idea they had 

 imbibed from Mohammedanism was, that it would be 

 wrong to eat meat killed by other j)eople. They thought 

 it would be " unluck3 T ." Just as the inhabitants of Kolo- 

 beng, before being taught the requirements of Christianity, 

 refrained from hoeing their gardens on Sundays, lest they 

 should reap an unlucky crop. So far as we could learn, 

 no efforts had been made to convert the natives, though 

 these two Arabs, and about a dozen half-castes, had been 

 in the country for many years ; and judging from our 



