CHAPTER XIV. 
ROOSEVELT VISITS CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 
Religions of Africa—Fetichism—Devil Worship—Portuguese and Protestant Missions—London 
Missionary Society—Livingstone—Dutch Reformed Church—American Missions—Catholic 
Missions in Northern Africa—Persecutions—Martyrdoms—A Christian Ruler. 
R OOSEVELT has always taken a deep interest in the efforts made 
by the missionaries to Christianize and civilize barbarian coun¬ 
tries and during his stay in Africa had an excellent opportunity 
to study this work at close range. 
The forms of religious beliefs professed by the inhabitants of Africa 
may be classed under three heads—Christian, Mohammedan, and pagan. 
The second form of faith was propagated in this continent at a very 
early period of Mohammedan history; and we find professors of it among 
many tribes which are not far removed from a state of savagery. 
These, however, are only nominally Mohammedans; in their gross super¬ 
stitions, their ignorance, and their revolting practices, they are really 
pagans; and their profession of belief in the Prophet of Islam only 
serves to bring contempt upon his teachings, as too many who call 
themselves by a holier name bring contempt, by the manner of their lives, 
upon the religion which they profess. 
It is difficult to speak in general terms of the faiths which are classed 
under the head of pagan. Some tribes appear to have a confused and 
gross belief in a future life; others declare that death ends all. Others 
again, believe in the transmigration of souls, and hold certain animals 
in reverence, as inhabited by the souls of dead friends. The negroes on 
the equatorial western coast of Africa believe that the souls of men fre¬ 
quently pass into gorillas, and that such animals are too cunning for 
the hunter. Some people have a well defined belief in a superior Being, 
who is good and beneficent; others, again, while they believe in spirits, 
cannot imagine one that is not malevolent; and are perpetually in 
