A ROMAN GA THOLIC MISSION. 413 



"The Consul now introduces business, and questions about my travels fol- 

 low from His Highness. 



"'How do you like Persia? Have you seen Kerbela, Bagdad, Masr, 

 Stamboul ? Have the Turks many soldiers? How many has Persia? Is 

 Persia fertile ? How do you like Zanzibar ? ' 



"Having answered each question to His Highness' satisfaction, he handed 

 me letters to his officers at Bagamoyo and Kaole, and a general introduc- 

 tory letter to all Arab merchants I might meet on the road, and concluded his 

 remarks to me with the expressed hope, that on whatever mission I was bound, 

 I might be perfectly successful. 



"We bowed ourselves out of his presence in much the same manner as we 

 had bowed ourselves in, he accompanying us to the great entrance door." 



Arrived at Bagamoyo, Mr. Stanley was hospitably entertained by the 

 members of a Roman Catholic mission, during the time occupied in engaging 

 140 pagazis (bearers), and arranging to start. While Bishop Tozer, the Pri- 

 mate of Central Africa — who failed in establishing a mission on the Shire, after 

 a few weeks' residence on the top of a mountain, where there was scarcely any 

 people for miles — resided at Zanzibar, the Catholic missionaries were success- 

 fully carrying on their labours on the mainland. Mr. Stanley's account of 

 the Fathers, their station, and their work, is worth quoting : — 



" The Mission is distant from the town a good half-mile, to the north of 

 it ; it is quite a village of itself, numbering some fifteen or sixteen houses. 

 There are more than ten padres engaged in the establishment, and as many 

 sisters, and all find plenty of occupation in educing from native crania, the 

 fire of intelligence. Truth compels me to state that they are very successful, 

 having over two hundred pupils, boys and girls, in the Mission, and, from the 

 oldest to the youngest, they show the impress of the useful education they 

 have received. 



" The dinners furnished to the padres and their guest consisted of as many 

 plats as a first-class hotel in Paris usually supplies, and cooked with nearly as 

 much skill, though the surroundings were by no means equal. I feel assured, 

 also, that the padres, besides being tasteful in their potages and entrees, do not 

 stultify their ideas for lack of that element which Horace, Hafiz, and Byron, 

 have praised so much. The Champagne — think of Champagne Cliquot in 

 East Africa ! — Lafitte, La Rose, Burgundy, and Bordeaux, were of first-rate 

 quality, and the meek and lowly eyes of the fathers were not a little brightened 

 ' by the vinous influence. Ah ! these fathers understand life, and appreciate 

 it3 duration. Their festive board drives the African jungle fever from their 

 doors, while it soothes the gloom and isolation which strikes one with awe, as 

 one emerges from the lighted room, and plunges into the depths of the dark- 

 ness of an African night, enlivened only by the weary monotone of the frogs 

 and crickets, and the distant ululation of the hyena. It requires somewhat 



