374 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
civilizations, to develop without fear of being overwhelmed 
in the surrounding gulfs of savagery; and this aside from 
the direct stimulus to development conferred by the con¬ 
sciously and unconsciously exercised influence of the white 
man, wherein there is much of evil, but much more of ulti¬ 
mate good. In any region of wide-spread savagery, the 
chances for the growth of each self-produced civilization are 
necessarily small, because each little centre of effort toward 
this end is always exposed to destruction from the neighbor¬ 
ing masses of pure savagery; and therefore progress is often 
immensely accelerated by outside invasion and control. In 
Africa the control and guidance is needed as much in the 
things of the spirit as in the things of the body. Those who 
complain of or rail at missionary work in Africa, and who 
confine themselves to pointing out the undoubtedly too nu¬ 
merous errors of the missionaries and shortcomings of 
their flocks, would do well to consider that even if the 
light which has been let in is but feeble and gray it has at 
least dispelled a worse than Stygian darkness. As soon as 
native African religions—practically none of which have 
hitherto evolved any substantial ethical basis—develop be¬ 
yond the most primitive stage they tend, notably in middle 
and western Africa, to grow into malign creeds of unspeak¬ 
able cruelty and immorality, with a bestial and revolting 
ritual and ceremonial. Even a poorly taught and imper¬ 
fectly understood Christianity, with its underlying founda¬ 
tion of justice and mercy, represents an immeasurable 
advance on such a creed. 
Where, as in Uganda, the people are intelligent and 
the missionaries unite disinterestedness and zeal with com¬ 
mon sense, the result is astounding. The majority of 
