DR. STEERE, BISHOP OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 575 



"A view from one of the windows of the unfinished residence gives us 

 a clearer idea of the locality the missionaries have chosen, and suggests 

 grave doubts of the wisdom of its selection. Looking at it from a senti- 

 mental point of view, the locality is, no doubt, very appropriate, and a cer- 

 tain fitness is also seen in it. The British Government denounced the slave 

 trade, and made a grand effort to crush it ; and the market for the sale of 

 slaves in old times was purchased by the mission, on which the missionaries erect 

 a church wherein peace and goodwill and brotherly love will be preached 

 and taught. The neighbourhood also is one of the most miserable quar- 

 ters of Zanzibar ; but the missionaries convey with them the power to im- 

 prove, refine, and elevate, despite its extreme poverty and misery. It is all 

 very well, we think; but if we look from the windows and examine the 

 character of the ground into which the walls of the building have been sunk, 

 we must see that it is a quagmire of putrid heaps of refuse and circular little 

 pools of sink-water, which permeate through the corrupting soil, and heave 

 up again in globules and bubbles, exhaling the vilest odour that ever of- 

 fended the civilised European's sense. And if what we have seen below is not 

 enough to conjure up in the mind a dismal prospect of sickness, pain, and 

 sorrow, for the unhappy missionaries who may be appointed to live here, the 

 view of the long and broad stretch of black mud, which the shallow waters 

 of the Malagash leave behind them for hours night and day, will certainly 

 do it. It would require the treasury of a Government to redeem the ground 

 from its present uninhabitable state. All I can say, however, is that I can 

 only hope that the dismal future suggested by the scenes near the mission 

 buildings may never be realised, and that the worthy missionaries may be 

 prosperous in the new field before them. 



"Dr. Steere, lately consecrated Bishop of Central Africa, is about to 

 arrive here, as successor of Bishop Tozer. If report speaks correctly, he 

 intends to establish mission buildings near Lake Nyassa, in which case he 

 will have the hearty sympathy and support of every good man ; and, were 

 Livingstone yet among us, Bishop Steere would depart with his blessing and 

 best wishes for success. The very name of Bishop Steere suggests success. 

 He is a practical and an indefatigably industrious man. He is devoid of 

 bigotry, but, while devoted to his Church, he does not neglect the great fact 

 that conversion of the heathen means more than the mere teaching of the 

 dogmas of the Church of England. In short, he is a fit leader for the new 

 Christian mission, because of his plain, practical good sense, his industry, 

 his intellectual acquirements, and religion, and I heartily congratulate the 

 Board of the Church Mission upon their selection of such a man. While we 

 are almost certain that Bishop Steere will be able to show results worthy of 

 him, it is absolutely necessary for the cause of religion throughout Africa 

 that he should be properly supported by his friends at home. 1'here most 



