patches o f evergreen banana, until it became
banked in the distance b y lines o f hazy blue
mountains.
It is a spot from which, undisturbed, the eye
may rove over one o f the strangest y e t fairest
portions o f Africa— hundreds o f square miles of
beautiful lake scenes— a great length o f g re y
plateau wall, upright and steep, but indented
with exquisite inlets, half surrounded b y embow-
ering plantains — hundreds o f square miles o f
pastoral upland dotted thickly with villages and
groves o f banana. From my lo fty eyrie I can
see herds upon herds o f cattle, and many minute
specks, white and black, which can be nothing
but flocks o f sheep and goats. I can also see
pale blue columns o f ascending smoke from the
fires, and upright thin figures moving about.
Secure on my lo fty throne, I can view their
movements, and laugh at the ferocity o f the
savage hearts which beat in those thin dark
figures; for I am a part o f Nature now, and for
the present as invulnerable as itself. A s little
do th e y know that human eyes survey their
forms from the summit o f this lake-girt isle as
that the eyes o f the Supreme in heaven are
upon them. How long, I wonder, shall the
people o f these lands remain thus ignorant o f
Him who created the gorgeous sunlit world they
lo o k upon each d a y from their lofty upland!
How long shall their untamed ferocity be a
f A p r i l 2 5 18 7 5 .-1 A d r e a m O F T H E F U T U R E . 2 9 1
LMusira Island.J
barrier to the Gospel, and how long shall th e y
remain unvisited b y the Teacher!
What a land th ey p o s se s s ! and what an inland
sea! How steamers afloat on the lake might
cause Ururi to shake hands with Uzongora, and
Uganda with Usukuma, make the wild Wavuma
friends with the Wazinza, and unite the Wake-
rewe with the Wagana! A great trading port
might then spring up on the Shimeeyu, whence
the coffee o f Uzongora, the ivory, sheep, and
goats o f U g ey ey a, Usoga, Uvuma, and Uganda,
the cattle o f U w y a , Karagwe, Usagara, Ihangiro,
and Usukuma, the myrrh, cassia, and furs and
hides o f Uganda and Uddu, the rice o f Ukerewe,
and the grain o f Uzinza, might be exchanged
for the fabrics brought from the co a s t; all the
land be redeemed from wildness, the industry
and energy o f the natives stimulated, the havoc
o f the slave-trade stopped, and all the countries
round about permeated with the nobler ethics
of a higher humanity. But at present the hands
o f the people are lifted— murder in their hearts
— one against the other; ferocity is kindled at
sight o f the wayfarer; piracy is the acknowledged
profession o f the Wavuma; the people o f U g e y e
y a and Waso ga g o stark naked; Mtesa impales,
burns, and maims his victims; the Wirigedi lie
in wait along their shores for the stranger, and
the slingers o f the islands practise their art
against him; the Wakara poison anew their