Beside these societies, the African Lakes Company has been formed for commercial purposes, seeking to develope the resources of the country and the industry of the natives, and while carrying on trade on a sound business basis, to do so on Christian principles.
To-day they are prepared to book passengers and goods from this country as far as the northern end of Lake Nyassa, from which point the ‘Stevenson Road’ is in process of construction, to the southern end of Tanganika. This work has been delayed in consequence of the death of Mr. Stewart, the engineer in charge; and at the end of last July, we learnt, with regret, that Mr. McEwen, who went to take his place, has also succumbed to the climate. It is to be hoped that before long some Society will be able to undertake mission work on the head waters of the Congo, reaching Lake Bangweolo by way of Lake Nyassa, and so on to the Luapula and the Lualaba.
A letter from Mr. H. M. Stanley, which appeared in the Daily Telegraph of Nov. 15, 1875, giving an account of his visit to Mtesa, the powerful king of Uganda, on the northern shore of Lake Victoria Nyanza, spoke of Mtesa’s earnest desire that Christian teachers should be sent to his country. A few days later, an anonymous friend offered £5000 to the Church Missionary Society, towards the establishment of a Mission on the Victoria Lake. A similar offer of £5000 followed a day or two after. The offers were accepted, and in the middle of the following year the pioneer party of the Mission reached Zanzibar. A line of stations has now been established between the coast and Rubaga, the capital of Uganda, at Mamboia, Mpwapwa, Uyui, and Msalala. Although the missionaries have experienced much difficulty from the first, and since Mtesa’s death a fierce persecution has raged, still the Mission has steadily advanced; some eighty natives have been baptized, including one of Mtesa’s daughters. Schools and translation work have had a good influence, and the blood of the martyrs at Uganda, as elsewhere, is proving ‘the seed of the Church.’