2 
GOD'S BLACK DIAMONDS. 
once said s The proper study of man is the study 
of mankind." Every missionary soon finds out 
that before he can help the African he must try to 
understand him. And this takes time^ patience, 
and, above all, common-sense. Travellers who pass 
through a country, especially if it takes them 
months to do it, think they know the people, but 
it really takes YEARS to get to know them through 
and through. When I sailed for Africa twenty 
years ago, several traders pitied me because I was 
leaving home and friends to live in an unhealthy 
climate to convert niggers ! Ugh ! said they, 
they are little better than monkeys/' Living 
amongst them, trading with them, they ought to 
have known better, but you see they would not take 
the trouble. An Efik chief said to me one day, 
Consul (Government) man he come for we coun- 
try to get on and become big man too much ; trader 
man he come to make plenty money and then go 
home and spend it ; but God-palaver man (the mis- 
sionary) he come not to make big name or big 
money, but to help us to be good and help we 
country.'* And because this is true of the mis- 
sionary—and the natives know it to be true — -he 
gets to know the people as no one else does. They 
come to trust him as a friend, and the false impres- 
sions, which their habits and customs create, pass 
away. 
Let me mention several things I found out. The 
Efiks are amongst the kindest people I have ever 
met. When I was very sick, they counted nothing 
a trouble if they could help Mrs. Ward by getting 
me to a British doctor. When I made river trips, 
and called at their towns, they enquired not 
