a Marriage; then a sick call, Breviary again, and then supper. Such is our Sunday, supposed to be a day of rest! The Rev. Father Grison is typical of Catholic missionaries in Congoland. Other missionaries there are, of the Protestant faith, equally sincere and ardent; but it is an unfortunate fact that among the latter have been included certain _quasi_-political agents who believe that they find advantage in depreciating the Government under which they voluntarily elect to live. Others, again, for the purpose of increasing the zeal of the congregations of the churches in their fatherland to provide for them sufficient support, have permitted themselves to excite the sympathies of the home associations by exaggerated tales of oppression and cruelty. Acquisitiveness is not an unknown quality among missionaries. Mr. Stokes, the so-called martyr, who suffered for supplying arms in time of war to the enemies of the Congo Free State, was originally a Protestant missionary, but he abandoned that vocation to become a trader. FOOTNOTES: [35] In the French Congo there is only one small launch devoted to missionary work. CHAPTER XXVIII STATE LANDS AND CONCESSIONS [Sidenote: The State’s Heavy Task.] It would seem reasonable that practical colonial government should begin the pursuit of its objects by a policy so flexible that it might readily conform to the altering conditions upon which it operates. The exceptional nature of the task imposed upon the Government of the Congo Free State, its varied and numerous difficulties, and the uncertainty of the radical principles imposed upon it, left its administrators no choice of colonial precedent to follow, no governmental model to adopt. It stood alone, in a unique enterprise not devoid of new hazards, pitfalls, and strange terrors. It had been regarded at first as an adventure, then as a serious experiment. A civil community was to be created of savage hordes; to maintain itself by its own people led on to civilisation by a few Europeans with a courage and zeal the equatorial sun should not subdue. The vast field it occupied and the untamed characteristics of its large population, the early philanthropic aims of its royal patron, and a general desire to carry out the principles enunciated at the Berlin Conference, all contributed to invest the Congo State Government with a special character, and to saddle it with original duties supposedly beyond its powers to perform. Thus, in the midst of an unexplored and barbarous land, with everything before it unknown, with all behind it seemingly unsuited for employment here, ways and means and a state system of government had to be adopted not only for internal regulation and development, but also to maintain the integrity of its relations with the rival Powers which surrounded it. The natural problems of the sovereignty of an unknown land and savage people were difficult enough; but when