«-'jJPL 0Ur faces homeward, leaving the little-man all alone Dec. 2 to 10. * 1 1 - '
w»n4 Wlth his grave responsibilities.
We thus had reached the utmost bourne of the
expedition, only one day later than the date I had
given to the Comite at Brussels. Further progress
before consolidation and incorporation of the work of
the Association would he unwise. WFat was required
now was to turn our attention to obtaining the . Protectorship
of the districts intervening between station
and station, so that we might become masters of one
uninterrupted and consecutive territory from Vivi
Station to the Falls, which, now that we had sown seeds
of gbodwill at every place we had touched, and each
tribe would spread diffusively the report of the beauty
and value of our labours, it would be an easy task for
an intelligent and patient officer like Captain Hanssens,
for instance, to perform. Pure benevolence contains
within itself grateful virtues. Over natural peoples,
nothing has greater charm or such expansible power.
Its influence grows without effort; its subtlety exercises
itself upon all who come within reach of the hearing
of it. Coming in such innocent guise, it offends h o t;
there is naught in it to provoke resentment. Provided
patience and good temper guided the chief of
Stanley Falls Station, by the period of the return of
the steamers the influence of the seedling just planted
there will have been extended by the Bakumu far
inland, by the Wane Bukura up to the Baswa at the
Upper Falls, by the Yakusu visiting the Wenya with
their fruits, to exchange for fish, up the Chofu, and
along their own ravaged river borders down to the
hearing of the persecuted families on the islands. The
Basoko would then hear of it, and regret that such
a seedling had not been left with them, to grow up
amongst them, and to overshadow them with its
benign shade.
Wan«;
Eusari.