The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-07-21
How the Hippopotamus Aids Religion

How the HippopotamuS Aids Religion.
The self-supportlng missions OF Bishop
WILLIAM TAYLOR In Africa have been Bit
terly attacked by few returned missionaries
and others who have not found Equatorial
Africa an ideal place OF residence. Last
week the Bishop who is now IN this coun-
try, sent to the newspapers statement as
serting that his self-supporting missions
have been planted to stay, and that. though
they have seen some hard times, the success
Of the self-supporting feature has already
been demonstrated.
Bishop TAYLOR has toiled under the trop-
ical sun. and in his opinion the best liver
regulator for men and women in Africa is a
liberal use OF the hoe. He found that O
months hard work building church on the
Kru coast improved his health. 1.-THE
Bishop at present." wrote the Rev. Mr..
KEPHART, is making brick, tramping the
mud with his feet moulding the brick with
his own hands, and drying them in the sum-"
He Is also willing to live on what the coun-
try produces, though canned food from the
temperate zone enters largely into the bill
OF fare of most whites In Africa. When one
OF his missionaries sent to the Bishop for
some butter, he was informed that butter
was seventy-five cents a pound, but "GoD
has provided palm oil, which Is much more
delicious and nutritious than the imported
stuff called butter" When another of his
assistants said no could not eat the native
bread made from tho cas5ava root, the
Bishop said to him: 1T is the bread OF the
country, and 1 would eat IL If 1t were as Bit
tor as quinne."
To the Congo missionaries who receive
salaries and assert that it Is simply fool
hardy for missionaries to think OF support
ing themselves, the Bishops bands, scat
tered along the river, simply reply that they
are supporting themselves or are In u fair
way to do 30 soon. Some OF the shifts, how
ever. to which they have been reduced to
win their bread have not been agreeable;
and among the oldest avocat!ons u mis-
siOnary ever combined with his duties as a
teacher Is that OF supplying native markets
with hippOpotamus meat, an enterprise that
has kept the TAYLOR mission at Kimpoko
alive during a long period of very rough
pioneering.
The missionaries at Kimpoko. on Stanley
Pool. found that the sandy soil would pro-
duce nothing, and 80 they began to hunt
Hipp' quinn l" bupluJ luSH lhIutIb'
Usually they returned from their hunts on
the river with good deal more meat than
they could use. and 80 they were able 10 sell
far the larger purt Of IL to the natives for
brass rods. The shrewd blacks soon learned
that the hunters would not eat the meat
unless 1t was perfectly fresh. and SO they
would not purchase for few days, knowing
that they could then buy large quantity
for very little money. Then the hunters
discovered b tier markets for their meat
AROUND LeopoldyilIe. Last year the mis-
sionarIcs were able not only 30 rny al their
household cXi enses yselllng hippoHoLlmu5
meat but also To hire wo,knlen aud build
house which they sorely needed. There Is
good pasturage around KimpOko. and the
missionaries have now imported some
Loanda cattle with money received from