The state of the lake region of Africa just now, points back to what Britain must have been many centuries before Christianity reached it. If we had then sailed up the Thames or the Clyde in some canoe, we should have seen only an occasional savage clad perhaps in skins, who would quickly rush in terror into the dense jungle. Could the man of those primitive days now revisit his old haunts, he would not recognise them. A greater contrast could scarcely be imagined. What in his time was a swamp is now a railway station, places then quite impassable by reason of bush and branches are now busy streets, spots which were then a barren waste are now fertile farms. For every person that could subsist in the country then, there are thousands now. With reference to Africa, many Englishmen say that if Britain instead of Portugal had held the coast, the country would have been already opened up. The remark looks invidious, but in any case it cannot change the past, and those who have at heart the sad condition of the African must seek to improve the present. I have no doubt that settlers willing to endure the hardships common in uncivilised countries, would by steady perseverance soon make themselves comfortable homes. Sugar grows well in the district. The natives have the cane, though they know nothing of the manufactured article. Tobacco also grows everywhere. The same may be said of India-rubber. Cotton is indigenous, and flax thrives well. Coffee has succeeded, and it is almost certain that tea would. Oil seeds (like the castor-oil bean, ground nuts and sesamum) are abundant. Native labour is cheap. The rate of wages at one time was a foot of calico per day for each man, and nine inches for a woman; and as the Mission had always more applicants for work than could be received, even this small wage was reduced. Still, parties settling far inland would not gain by exporting, as for a long time the expense of carriage must be high. One thing much to be regretted in connection with the opening up of the country for commerce is the wholesale destruction of the elephant. At every port along the East coast the mail steamers receive tons of ivory. It is a pity that the African elephant cannot be utilised in some other way. Unless the noble animals have some mercy shown them, they will speedily become extinct. CHAPTER XI. THIRD HALF. JULY, 1879-DEC., 1879.