inside. The fire splutters out and the logs float around amid the
crowing of fowls and the cackling of ducks who are quite contented and
happy. Our hostess with a baby strapped on her back in the usual native
fashion, commences to bale out the water with a basket while we sit on
logs in the darkness and try to keep dry. After about an hour the storm
passes and we go back to the Mission, the Lake now appearing like a
small sea.

Mr. Clarke lends me a copy of the _Memorial concerning conditions in the
Independent State of the Congo_ which was presented to the American
Senate early in 1904. There seem to be a great many curious errors in
it. It starts with the astounding statement that the Congo Free State
has a sea board of 400 miles along the Atlantic, whereas a glance at the
map will show that it is really about a tenth as long. It estimates the
Force Publique at 30,000 men, rather more than twice its full strength,
and its author is under the impression that the people may not collect
the produce of the land or "barter it for merchandise." It is a little
difficult to understand what the author means here. As a matter of fact,
the people are trading with each other, all day long and with the white
travellers whenever they have the opportunity. They sell food, lances,
native knives and all kinds of curiosities to those who desire them and
are at perfect liberty to barter away all their property if they wish to
do so. They may not of course enter the territories of the State or
Private Companies and take the ivory or rubber, any more than the people
in Europe may walk on to private land and gather the corn or fruit from
it for their own use or profit. The native indeed is in the position of
a farm labourer who gathers the fruits of the soil for his master and is
paid a wage for so doing. On Sunday I attend service in the chapel. A
native from Sierra Leone reads a lesson from the Gospel of St. Matthew,
which has been translated into Bangala and gives a short address on the