244 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
white men that, if they will only come to him, he will 
give them all they want. Now, where is there in all 
the pagan world a more promising field for a mission 
than Uganda ? Colonel Linant de Bellefonds is my 
witness that I speak the truth, and I know he will cor- 
roborate all I say. The Colonel, though a Frenchman, 
is a Calvinist, and has become as ardent a well-wisher 
for the Waganda as I am. Then why further spend 
needlessly vast sums upon black pagans of Africa who 
have no example of their own people becoming Chris- 
tians before them ? I speak to the Universities Mission 
at Zanzibar and to the Free Methodists at Mombasa, 
to the leading philanthropists, and the pious people of 
England. ‘ Here, gentlemen, is your opportunity — 
embrace it ! The people on the shores of the Nyanza 
call upon you. Obey your own generous instincts, and 
listen to them ; and I assure you that in one year you 
will have more converts to Christianity than all other 
missionaries united can number. The population of 
Mtesa’s kingdom is very dense ; I estimate the number 
of his subjects at 2,000,000. You need not fear to 
spend money upon such a mission, as Mtesa is sole ruler, 
and will repay its cost tenfold with ivory, coffee, otter 
skins of a very fine quality, or even in cattle, for the 
wealth of this country in all these products is immense. 
The road here is by the Nile, or via Zanzibar, Ugogo, 
and Unyanyembe. The former route, so long as Colonel 
Gordon governs the countries of the Upper Nile, seems 
the most feasible.’ ” 
When the letters were written and sealed, I committed 
them to the charge of Colonel Linant. My friend pro- 
mised he would await my return from Usukuma ; mean- 
while he lent me a powerful field-glass, as mine, being 
considerably injured, had been given to Mtesa. 
Magassa was not ready on the second day of our 
arrival. One of his women had absconded, or some of 
Mtesa’s chiefs had seized her. Only ten canoes had 
arrived by the evening of the 16th. 
The parting between M. linant and myself, I shall 
allow him to describe : 
