[Illustration: MISSION HOME, MENDI MISSION.] Friday, April 1st, was emphatically a day of calls. It had been quickly noised abroad that the new missionaries from America had arrived, and many availed themselves of the first opportunity to bid them welcome to Africa. Possibly a little curiosity was mingled with their politeness, but we did not care to analyze too closely, and were glad to see them all. The people we met were generally fine looking, of a rich, brown color, and not burdened by any superfluity of clothing. They talked a broken English, which was almost as difficult to understand as a new language. To say that Sunday, April 3d, was a warm day would convey but a slight idea of the truth. When the thermometer indicates over 90° in America we are apt to call it rather warm; but a new adjective is needed to characterize African heat at 90°, for it is something so entirely different from the summer broils of other countries. No wonder that this is an unhealthy climate. The land is low, the water stagnant, the air moist, vegetation thick, and the heat intense. In the morning I preached in the mission church to an attentive audience on “The light that shineth in a dark place,” and was present at a service in the Mendi language at the school-house in the afternoon. The prayer meeting in the evening was well attended and full of interest. On Monday, April 4th, we went in the “Olive Branch” to Avery Station, on the Mahna River, a branch of the Bargroo, forty miles inland. The trip took all of one night, the boatmen rowing and keeping time to their oars with a weird, monotonous singing all the way. The inspection of the station at Avery consumed the early morning hours of Tuesday. We visited the mill, the boat houses, the coffee farm, the cassada fields, the rice houses, the boy’s department, the store, the church and school-room, and last, but not least, the “faki,” or native village, situated on the mission grounds, and under the control of the missionary. The situation of the mission house is a fine one, but the adjacent country is wilder than at Good Hope. The house stands on a high promontory, and commands a very picturesque view both up and down the river. This river abounds in fish and alligators, while the banks are alive with monkeys. I was up at three A. M. on the 7th to help receive Mr. Kemp, who arrived from Good Hope Station at that hour. Later we visited the school together, examined the pupils in their various branches, and gave them a little talk, which they seemed to enjoy. Some of them were honored by such names as Wm. E. Gladstone and M. E. Strieby. Their appearance and behavior were very gratifying. The prayer meeting in the evening was fully attended, and indicated a marked degree of earnestness, the leader having some difficulty to bring it to a close. If hand-shaking is a means of grace, we enjoyed special privileges at the end of this meeting.