was this she had chosen to make her dwelling-place--a land formless,
mysterious, terrible, ruled by witchcraft and the terrorism of secret
societies; where the skull was worshipped and blood-sacrifices were
offered to jujus; where guilt was decided by ordeal of poison and
boiling oil; where scores of people were murdered when a chief died,
and his wives decked themselves in finery and were strangled to keep
him company in the spirit-land; where men and women were bound and left
to perish by the water-side to placate the god of shrimps; where the
alligators were satiated with feeding on human flesh; where twins were
done to death, and the mother banished to the bush; where semi-
nakedness was compulsory, and girls were sent to farms to be fattened
for marriage. A land, also, of disease and fever and white graves.

There, too, lay her own future, as dark and unknown as the land, full
of hard work, she knew, full, it might be of danger and trial and
sorrow....

But the boats of the traders and the missionaries came off, the canoes
of the natives swarmed around, the whole town seemed to be on the
water. With eyes that were bright and expectant Mary stepped from the
Mission boat and set foot on African soil.




II. FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The young missionary-teacher was delighted with the novelty and wonders
of her surroundings. She revelled in the sunshine, the warmth, the
luxuriant beauty, and began to doubt whether the climate was so deadly