The Newtown bee., 1904-05-06
THE HOME CIRCLE. f E~s REV SAMUEL OURNEY, FORMERLY
 or LONG HILL, PAYS
 AvIsIT TO AN AFRICAN KRAAL.

When l left New York for Africa
 over . year ago, 1t was with the ex-
 pectation that 8 complete Hospital
 outfit would esent to me in 8 short
 time. In fact, until few days be-
 lore sailed, l expected to bring 1t
 has been sent and I see'no prospect of
 getting 1t, and so my only medical
 equipment Is the few things which I brought with me. This has been a
 disappointment to me, as 1t narrows
 the scope of my work to that of Dis
 pensary, and such work Is necessarily superficial and unsatisfactory, both
 from medical and religious Standpoin6.
 However, although have no hospital,
 I am doing the best can to carry out
 the great commission, "heal the sick,
 and say the kingdom of God is come
 nigh yOu." One line of work which I
 have taken up as substitute for hos 'pttal work is that of visiting the na-
 Recently, Bishop Hartzefl has, at my
 request, appointed me missionary to
 one of these kraals, that is Ishe Chon-
 ga. (Ishe means queen and Chonga is
 the queens name.) Would you like to
 accompany me on one of my visits to
 this kraal? The distance is about ten
 miles and if you go you will have to
 walk, as l do, unless we can borrow
 donkey from the Mission farm, and
 even then you will probably prefer to
 walk. try to go there once a week,
 at the Mission often prevent my doing SO. Our company consists of my "boy'',
 all native men are spoken Of as boys hereto cook for us, and a native helper to serve as interpreter and as- sist in the religious services. Several other Mission boys will probably want
 to go with us, and among them they will carry our food, medicines, etc. Our journey at first is along a fairly good road, but soon we turn into a rough, native path, which is less than 3 foot wide, with grass on either side higher than our heads. After walk ing about three hours, we cross the last mountain ridge, and can see the native kraals in the valley below us. We are not sorry that our journey is nearing its end, for the way is hard, the long grass brushing in our faces is very trying, and the African midday sun is now beating upon us in all it's fury. Our first duty upon reaching the kraal is to pay our respects to the queen. Our approach has been ob- served by her, and as we come nearer, she crawls out of her hut-the door of
 "A4SA 10 AOoO U10A Ul1OC 1CcU and gives us very cordial welcome, for she has come to regard us as her personal friends. She is a middle aged woman, of small stature, keen intellect, sharp, penetrating eyes and marked executive ability. It is true that she Is an inveterate user of the "filthy weed" in the form of snuff, and that she sometimes indulges too freely in 'dOdo''-native beer-and it is also true that she has other cares besides those of government, for she is the mother of quite a large family of children, although native custom does not allow her to have a husband, and yet as compared with other native ards among which she has lived, she is in every way superior person. As she comes to greet us you must not ex- pect to see rich ornaments and Splen- did royal robes, for this queenly quee n Is barefOOted and bareheaded, and her only clothing is a yard or two of cot ton cloth, which she wraps about her.
 Unlike other native women, she wears no ornaments of any sort. Her man. ner is usually calm and dignifed, as becomes queen, but to-day she is somewhat excited, because some of her people have gone out to work in the ueIuS on cou 5 Ody; TOT the poor little heathen is trying to have them keep the Sabbath, although fear she has no higher motive in doing so than desire to please us. Having bestowed due attention upon "royalty," we will now retire to our own little hut, where our "bOys" are preparing dinner. The queen will probably send us present of some kind of food as good will of- fer1ng. Let us hope it will be fruit, or at least something that is uncooked. | Well, here it comes, but alas! it is a sort of mush made of native materials. | We think of the filthy condition of the | hands which prepared 1t and of the