406 MISSION OF THE UNIVERSITIES. CHAP. XV. 



how expected that the man he would secure would be an 

 image of himself ; and we must say, that whatever others, 

 from the representations that have gone abroad, may think 

 of his character, we invariably found Dr. Gray to be a 

 true, warmhearted promoter of the welfare of his fellow- 

 men ; a man whose courage and zeal have provoked very 

 many to good works. 



It was hoped that the presence of a new head to the 

 Mission would infuse new energy and life into the small 

 band of Missionaries, whose ranks had been thinned by 

 death ; and who, though discouraged by the disasters 

 which the slave war and famine had induced, and also dis- 

 pirited by the depressing influences of a low and unhealthy 

 position in the swampy Shire Valley, were yet bravely 

 holding out till the much-needed moral and material aid 

 should arrive. 



We believe that we are uttering the sentiments of many 

 devout members of different sections of Christians, when 

 we say, it was a pity that the Mission of the Universities 

 was abandoned. The ground had been consecrated in the 

 truest sense by the lives of those brave men who first occu- 

 pied it. In bare justice to Bishop Mackenzie, who was 

 the first to fall, it must be said, that the repudiation of all 

 he had done, and the sudden abandonment of all that had 

 cost so much life and money to secure, was a serious line of 

 conduct for one so unversed in Missionary operations as his 

 successor, to inaugurate. It would have been no more 

 than fair that Bishop Tozer, before winding up the affairs 

 of the Mission, should actually have examined the high- 

 lands of the Upper Shire ; he would thus have gratified 

 the associates of his predecessor, who believed that the 

 highlands had never had a fair trial, and he would have 

 gained from personal observation a more accurate know- 

 ledge of the country and the people than he could possibly 

 have become possessed of by information gathered chiefly 



