VICTORIA AND CAMEROONS. 5 1 
usefulness, extending over no less than thirty-three 
years. Until the year 1858, the energies of this con- 
secrated servant of God were divided between the 
claims of Fernando Po and Cameroons, the latter 
occupying the larger share. For a knowledge of what 
Mr. Saker was enabled to accomplish during those 
years ; how he won his way into the confidence and 
affection of the natives ; how he introduced amongst 
them civilising arts and manners ; how he acquired 
their language and gave them the Bible in their own 
tongue — for this information our readers must be 
referred to other sources. 
But, as Mr. Comber entered upon his practical work 
as a missionary at Victoria, it will be appropriate, as 
well as interesting, if the circumstances which led Mr. 
Saker to found the colony be briefly described. The 
success attending the efforts of a Protestant Mission- 
ary Society in Fernando Po attracted, as was only to 
be expected, the notice of the Roman Catholics of 
Spain, who were not slow to influence the Spanish 
authorities in the island, the result ultimately being 
the proclamation of an edict prohibiting every religion 
except that of the Church of Rome. Finding the 
prohibition was absolute, Mr. Saker resolved to find a 
home of freedom for such of the members of his 
congregation as might choose to share it with him. 
Stimulated by his own love of liberty, and their vows 
of fidelity, after the manner of the Pilgrim Fathers, he 
went forth on his noble pursuit. The difficulties and 
dangers of the exploration would have daunted a less 
heroic nature. At length a refuge was found on the 
shore in Ambas Bay. That spot commending itself 
by its physical features, its facility for harbourage, 
its two miles of splendid beach, and especially its 
proximity to the great mountain, Cameroons, which 
would probably afford a health resort, Mr. Saker 
was not long in arriving at a decision. In Ambas 
Bay he accordingly determined to settle down, remov- 
ing thither such of the Christians in Fernando Po as 
