We might draw another picture. There are districts where there seems to be no energy in the people. Take, for instance, the Majinga or the Lukunga Valley, as we knew them two years ago. Here the natives live in the midst of plenty, for the soil is not to be equalled in richness. The proceeds of a goat sold on one of the markets will find a large family in palm fibre cloth for a year; while a crate or two of fowls will provide salt, gunpowder, and an occasional hoe or plate. A boy grows up in this rich country, and for a while his intellect expands as he learns about the little world around him. As he grows older, he may bestir himself to find means to buy a gun, and then a wife: that accomplished, he has practically nothing more to learn or live for. He sleeps or smokes all day, unless about September the grass is burnt and there is a little hunting, though a war or a palaver may sometimes break the monotony. Otherwise, his wife cultivates the land, and feeds him; he eats and sleeps. Living such an animal life, his intellect stagnates, he becomes quarrelsome and stupid to a degree almost hopeless. Dirty, he is contented to see his hut fall to pieces almost over his head. [Illustration: A CONGO NATIVE SMOKING.] The women are content often with a rag for clothing. They wear a grass stem three inches long through the nose, and a dirty rag for an earring. The hair is matted with a mixture of oil and vegetable charcoal; and if a lady happen to be in mourning the same filthy compound is smeared over her face. With the advent of white men this sad picture has begun to change. The Livingstone Inland Mission (American Baptists) and the International Association have stations among them; their transport and that of the Baptist Missionary Society (English) passes through the country. The people are coming forward as carriers; they sell their goats, fowls, etc., are getting cloth; and in this short time a change for the better is apparent. Here lies all the difference between the degraded and the higher types of the African. The intellect of the one is stagnant, while the other has everything to quicken it. As children the better class will compare favourably with English boys; bright, sharp, anxious to learn, they push on well with their studies. Our schools are full of promise. At Stanley Pool the other day the boys were much concerned because a new boy had mastered his alphabet the first day. They all felt that he was too clever. The future of these interesting people is full of the brightest hope. Give them the Gospel, and with it the advantages of education, and books to read; quicken within them tastes which will render labour a necessity and a pleasure; give them something high and noble to work and live for; and we shall see great and rapid changes. Christian Missions are no experiment. We have to deal with a vigorous race that will repay all that Christian effort can do on their behalf. CHAPTER V. The Religious Ideas of the Natives.