CHAPTER XXXI. 



Missionary Response to MtescCs Invitation — The Victoria Nyanza Mission — The 

 Livingstonia 3Iission on Lake Nyassa — The Mission at Ujiji on Lake Tangan- 

 yika — Mr. CotterilVs Expedition to Livingstonia. 



IT would have been strange, indeed, if an appeal to the friends of Christian 

 Missions and the friends of Africa — an appeal so much like the Mace- 

 donian cry of old, " Come over into Macedonia and help us," had found no 

 quick and glad response. Only a few days after the appearance of Mr. 

 Stanley's communication respecting the desire of King Mtesa, in the columns 

 of the " Daily Telegraph," the following letter was written by a Christian 

 gentleman to the Church Missionary Society : — 



" Dear Me. Hutchinson — My eyes have often been strained wistfully 

 towards the interior of Africa, west of Mombasa, and I have longed and prayed 

 for the time when the Lord would by his Providence open there a door of en- 

 trance to the heralds of the Gospel. 



" The appeal of the energetic explorer Stanley to the Christian Church 

 from Mtesa's capital, Uganda, taken in connection with Colonel Gordon's 

 occupation of the upper territories of the Nile, seem to me to indicate that 

 the time has come for the soldiers of the cross to make an advance into that 

 region. 



" If the Committee of the Church Missionary Society are prepared at 

 once, and with energy to organise a mission to the Victoria Nyanza, I shall 

 account it a high privilege to place £5,000 at their disposal as a nucleus for 

 the expenses of the undertaking. 



" I am not so sanguine as to look for the rapidity of success contemplated 

 by Mr. Stanley; but if the mission be undertaken in simple and trustful depend- 

 ence upon the Lord of the Harvest, surely no insurmountable difficulty need 

 be anticipated, but His presence and blessing be confidently expected, as we 

 go forward in obedience to the indications of His Providence and the com- 

 mands of His Word. 



" I only desire to be known in this matter as 



"An Unprofitable Servant. 

 (Luke xvii. 10). 



" Edward Hutchinson, Esq." 



