WHERE TO LIVE. 
33 
we shall live best where the soil is fertile." The 
general questions that settled matters in most of 
the parts where I have been, were : Is there good 
water ? and, will we be near our fishing-grounds, 
or farms, or markets ? as the case might be. 
There were exceptions, of course. I say of 
course, because you never knew a rule without an 
exception, did you? I've found a town hidden 
away in the thick bush. So hidden, in fact, that 
it was possible to walk along a path not more than 
one hundred yards from it and never dream that a 
town was near. The location of such a town is 
explained by the belief that in such secrecy is to 
be found — safety. Occasionally I came across a 
deserted village falling fast into ruins. Before the 
village was forsaken a sickness — such as small-pox 
— had raged there, and the people took it as a sign 
that Ju-ju,'' or witches, disputed their right to 
live there, and fled. I am told that this very often 
happens with the Bubis up the mountain in Fer- 
nando Poo. 
The missionaries who go to work in Africa have 
to discuss and settle the very same problem of 
where to live. At the very beginning of things 
the missionary cannot afford to be too particular. 
His first business is to **get his foot in. "The Revs. 
N. Boocock and R. Banham lived in a dark room 
in a mud compound at Esuk Oron, and the Rev. W. 
Christie for weeks and months in mud houses by 
the wayside, in order to get a start. The Revs. H. 
Buckenham, A. Baldwin, F. Pickering, and W. 
Chapman did the same thing in South Central 
Africa, only for a very much longer time. But as 
soon as it can be done the missionary chooses a 
