MASHONALAND MISSIONS.* To say that Bishop Knight-Bruce's Memories of Mashanaland

makes no pretence to literature is to describe their literary shortcomings rather mildly. We have rarely come across a book more ill-constructed and more tiresome to read. It is true that one does not go to missionary records for literature, though more than one great missionary has written works of travel that deserve to live for ever ; but still, one might reasonably hope for a plain, straightforward narration of facts, which are themselves interesting, and of that hope we are grievously disappointed in the Bishop's Memories. Most people will know who Bishop Knight-Bruce is, and there can be but few of these who have not conceived a warm admiration for the courage, energy, and devotion which he has displayed in forwarding mission work in South Africa, so his name on the title-page makes their disappointment the heavier. It seems almost incredible that such a man as the author could have lived for seven years, on and off, in and about Mashona- land, have travelled widely and gone through many strange experiences, and yet have written a book upon those experiences from which it is possible to learn so little. To do the author justice, he does not seem himself to entertain a very high opinion of his powers of imparting information.

The Mashonaland which he offers to describe is precisely that aspect of the country which would most attract our interest. Not the Mashonaland of the pioneer and miner, of noisy camp-towns and dusty road-tracks, but the Mashonaland of the Mashonas, of the lovely though fever-stricken valleys, of forts and strongholds, built by some long-forgotten race, and of villages still inhabited by a people of unknown origin and half-decayed civilisation. The author wandered through this country and lived among these people for some little time ; but, to judge from his notes, has carried away a

• Memories of Mushonalend. By Bishop Knight-Bruce. London: Edward Arnold.

singularly vague impression of both the land and its inhabitants. " My interest," he writes, "lay chiefly with the people, but I fear that I learnt little. A never- ending succession of different tribes with different varia- tions of languages—of which I knew practically nothing— each tribal language shading off into the next, made a series of links, unless I am much mistaken, between the Seshona (i.e., the language of the Mashona) and the Yao language, as spoken near Lake Nyassa." Did the author ever even master the Seshona dialect ? There is nothing in his book to show that he did so, or whether the conversation which he held with native chiefs were carried on through an interpreter or by direct speech. It is all hopelessly vague throughout. Very rarely does he give us any indication of the geographical position of a tribe of which he is speaking, and never does he give us any dates. In one chapter, entitled "The Native as a Study," he begins thus :—" I wish to preface any notes on this subject by saying that I know next to nothing whatever about it, and, further, that I have met very few people who do know very much." We are bound to admit that the rest of the chapter seems to bear out the truth of this preface ; but surely a long residence in the country might have taught him a little more than the trite commonplaces of general knowledge with which the chapter is filled. The author, how- ever, holds a brief on the side of African mission work, and as most of his book may be regarded as a plea on its behalf, he may perhaps prefer to be criticised only from this point of view. Well, we can only say that we do not think he is a very judicious advocate. He erects an imaginary opponent, who declares that the introduction of Christianity among the natives tends to demoralise them, and that the introduction of strong drinks is for their benefit; that money is only wasted in trying to teach the heathen ; and that the labours of the missionary are always in vain. This opinion he triumphantly demolishes. Was it worth while ? It is cer- tainly not the common opinion, and the number of people foolish or ignorant enough to hold it, cannot be very numerous. The doubts which are very often entertained with regard to missionary work, are of a very different character. A good deal of money is expended on these missions, and the question is not whether it should be spent at all, but whether it is spent in the best way possible. Are the missionaries always the right men to carry on the work of teaching the heathen, and do they set about it in the right way ? We confess that on these points the author does not reassure us. His arguments are characterised by the same illogical reasoning, based upon vague and unsupported testimony, which forms such a prominent feature in most missionary society pamphlets. It has been said by some critics of the African missions, that they more often fail than succeed because they scatter their energies over too wide a field, and because they attempt to make large and striking conquests and shirk the wearisome, up-hill task of holding what they have got. They strive to make the advance of Christianity a rapid, triumphant march, whereas, in their hands, it can never be more than a slow and painful struggle. And it has also been pleaded on behalf of the missionaries themselves, that the blame for this mis- taken policy cannot altogether be laid to their charge ; that missionary work is supported on "a payment by results" system ; and that, unless they supply startling news of rapid and wholesale conversions to their supporters at home, the latter cannot be induced to supply them with funds. If this view of African missionary societies is a correct one, we cannot think that missions are conducted in the right way, or that they are likely to attract the right kind of worker. To speak frankly, the Bishop's account of his own doings in Mashonaland, and of the work of his friends, lends some colour to this criticism. In his own case we find him hurrying through the country—from place to place, paying visits to one chief after another, preaching the Gospel one day, and departing the next with the promise sometimes of sending a teacher ; and in hardly a single instance do we learn that this visitation was followed by any lasting results, or are we told if the promised teacher was actually sent. The author admits that this method of procedure is open to objection—though be hardly seems to realise how serious this objection may be—but he has a two- fold plea to offer on its behalf. First, that the progress of Christian teaching must keep pace with the progress of com- mercial enterprise ; and secondly, that the Church of England missionary should try to get ahead of missionaries belonging to other denominations. We agree with him when he says that the second plea is a less worthy one ; it is almost a pity that he advances it at all, for he elsewhere shows a generous appreciation of the work done by other Churches, and speaks of their rivalry with mach good feeling and

common-sense. With regard to the first excuse, we may quote his own words :—

"Supposing the missionaries and other white men to have had an equally good start in tho country, as we must allow for some bad white men, however good the rest may be, should we not find that the natives, with that strange perverseness which characterises them, had picked up nearly every European vice, in addition to their own, with no counteracting influences side by side with the bad to help them ? I presume there was some reason for a Mashona, who had been travelling with me for some time, turning to one of our catechists and saying, Why is not the Bishop vicious like other white men 9' And though it was no compliment to me, it was an unpleasant re- flection on other white men that he had met."

There is some force in this contention ; but is not the case a

little exaggerated, and does not the author "allow" for a much too large proportion of bad men among the pioneers of trade ? And does he not, also, overrate the influence which is exercised by very scattered and unfrequent minis- strations on the part of the missionaries P We can appre- ciate the difficulties which Christianity may meet with when it is only second in its race with the World ; but in our opinion they seem only to form an additional reason for concentrating the former's energies instead of dissipating them. The author and his colleagues,

whom he quotes from time to time, draw the most hopeful auguries from the way in which they are received by the tribes and chiefs to whom they pay flying visits. "They are longing to be taught," writes one missionary. "In all cases they say they would like to live better lives, and feel

the want of better lives, but say they do not know how they ought to live, or what they ought to do, without some one to teach them. There is certainly a most wonderful opening for missionary work in the country." How much or how little, we wonder, does this mean ? Bishop Knight-Bruce was careful, he says, to explain to those chiefs whom he inter- viewed, that he offered no material advantages except that of learning a better way of life. But it must be remembered

that the presence of a missionary must bring some material advantages, and it is significant that his overtures were best received where this fact was known. A missionary

has to employ some labour ; he has the reputation of being a doctor, and his presence is even regarded some- times as a protection against the raids of stronger tribes.

Bishop Knight-Bruce himself tells a story which throws a little light upon the interested attitude of some of his listeners :—

" I saw a delightful piece of native character in this place on ray first visit, while the Mashona kept us hidden away from the Gaya people. I had taken one man, who seemed to be a leading spirit among the villagers, and began telling him about God. As I knew he would remember everything that I said, and probably repeat it word for word to his friends, I thought that speaking to him alone was, in their excited state, better than having a large audience. First we had some conversation ; then he listened quite attentively for some time, then he suddenly asked, Would I give him a shirt ?' I think I gave him one ; at any rate, we started again and went on a good deal longer on my subject. When I had finished, I told him to go and tell his people all that Iliad said. Yes,' he said, he would. But would I give him some beads to make him strong to speak ?", It seems hardly fair to take advantage of a story which the author's sense of humour has prompted him to tell. But one cannot help thinking that much of the receptivity, if one can use the word in this sense, displayed by the natives at the

first start has an equally material, though better concealed, cause. Their apparent eagerness to learn is just a little sus- picious. We know what have been the experience of other

missionaries who have devoted their whole life to the work of which Bishop Knight-Bruce, after all, has only had but a

short trial, and we have learnt from them how slow, how very slow, is the actual progress that can be made. " Chi va piano, va sane e lontano," is as true of missionary enterprise as it is of any other. It is not to be supposed that the greater safety of the journey will appeal to our author; but the greater

distance will. Haste really retards the speed. The other view of missionary life only serves to attract sanguine, hot-headed workers whose enthusiasm is damped at the first reverse, and whose services in the cause are worse than useless.