494 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



in a substantial manner, and the gardens are laid 

 out and tended most carefully. They are under the 

 supervision of a lay missionary, a Scotchman. The 

 mission was founded by the beneficence of Sir Wil- 

 liam McKinnon, and its purpose was a most practical 

 one. The idea of its founder was that it should prove 

 a means of educating the people as well as of converting 

 them ; and to this end men equipped to teach them 

 industries of a practical nature had been sent out for 

 its management. At the time I visited it, however, 

 the natives had not as yet shown much interest in 

 the efforts of their teachers; but I suppose the in- 

 terest, though delayed, will come in time. 



Dr. Charters was a most interesting man. He had 

 spent six years on the Congo, and while there had 

 taken Stanley and a part of the Relief Expedition as 

 far as Yambuya, on the little mission steamer " Peace." 

 He was the best equipped missionary I have ever seen, 

 being a clergyman, a practical engineer, and a doctor 

 of medicine. 



Poor Dr. Charters ! His end was a sad one. In 

 September of the year I met him (1894) he, in com- 

 pany with a Scotchman named Colquhoun and a few 

 men, went on a shooting-trip in the neighbourhood 

 of the mission. They never returned. It is supposed 

 that they were slain by a party of raiding Masai, for 

 the exact manner of their death could never be 

 ascertained. 



If more missionaries like Dr. Charters could be 

 sent to Africa, I feel convinced that the task of 

 raising the standard of native life would be a much 

 easier one. He was devoted to his work, and from 



