56 



APEKUNZA. 



to relieve their minds by begging snuff or cloth. 

 One of the attendants had that in his face and 

 manner which suggested the propriety of having 

 a revolver ready. ' Do not mind him/ said Mrs 

 Kebmann, ' he is a very dear friend, — one of our 

 oldest converts.' ' Yes/ pursued her husband, 

 ^ Apekunza was mentally- prepared for Chris- 

 tianity by a long course of idiocy, poor fellow!' 

 We were somewhat startled by the utter simpli- 

 city of the confession when it was explained to 

 us that the convert Apekunza, whom Dr Krapf 

 calls Abbe Gunja, had, as often happens to 

 Africans, been driven to distraction by the loss 

 of all his friends and relatives. M. Rebmann 

 also related to me in pathetic terms the death of 

 the mechanic missionary, Johannes Wagner, a 

 youth who, suffering from typhus, was very 

 properly, but in vain, supplied with abundant 

 stimulants, therefore the Arab version of the 

 event was Sharrabuhu Khamr kasir — sdr sakran 

 — mdt wa Jehannum (they gave him much strong 

 liquor — he got drunk — died, and went to Gehen- 

 na). To compare the edification of the people 

 round the Christian death-bed, as set forth in 

 the Missionary Intelligencer, was not a little 

 suggestive of the delusions in which even honest 

 men can live. 



