2 l6 
Life at Banza Nokia. 
them young girls. This regular life is varied by 
a little extra exertion at seed-time and harvest, by 
attending the various quitandas or markets of the 
country side, and by an occasional trip to “ town ” 
(Boma). When the bush is burning, all sally out 
with guns, clubs, and dogs, to bring home “ beef.” 
And thus they dwell in the presence of their 
brethren, thinking little of to-day, and literally 
following the precept, “ Take no thought for the 
morrow.” As the old missioners testify, they 
have happy memories, their tempers are mild, and 
quarrels rarely lead to blows ; they are covetous, 
but not miserly; they share what they have, and 
they apply the term “ close-fist” to the European 
who gives “ nuffin for nuffin.” 
The most superstitious of men, they combine 
the two extremes of belief and unbelief; they 
have the firmest conviction in their own tenets, 
whilst those of others flow off their minds like 
water from a greased surface. The Catholic mis¬ 
sioners laboured amongst them for nearly two 
hundred years ; some of these ecclesiastics were ig¬ 
norant and bigoted as those whom we still meet on 
the West African Coast, but not a few were earnest 
and energetic, scrupulous and conscientious, able 
and learned as the best of our modern day. All 
did not hurry over their superficial tasks like the 
Neapolitan father Jerome da Montesarchio, who 
baptized 100,000 souls ; and others,, who sprinkled 
