The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-04-27
THREE or pENvErs LEADING HOTELS.
AFRICA TURNING
TO CHRISTIANITY,
MISSIONARY SAYS

~ ~ - AAAASSo III ASA4OOA o6
Luebo-- -Canniba lism andPO- !
lygamy Still Prevalent.
The Rev. Motto Martin, an African
traveller. explorer and missionary, spoke
last night In the Second Presbyterian
Church before an audience which flllen
the large building, and which showed
the deepest interest In the story OF !
work in Africa. The young minister
10 graduate OF Union Theological
Seminary, and at one time supplied the I
Presbyterian Church in Barton Heights.
His tours in the Congo region Of Cen. (
trail Africa during the past half dozen /
years have given him a worldwi
reputation as an explorer OF the Dark
Continent, while his missionary labors
have been pronounced by Secretary
Reavis, OF the board of missions, to
be unparalleled In modern church an
nails.
Much of Mr.. Martins work has been
done in company with the Rev. shep-
held, Stanton, Va, negro. who, as q
pioneer missionary and explorer In
Africa, has become Fellow of tho
Royal Geographical Society. and ranks
second only to Livingstone and STAN
ley In the opening OF Central Africa.
A Question Answered.
Before going as missionary MT.
Martin said he had been often asked
why nations who are living contentedly
and satisfied with present conditions
should be intruded upon with another
moral CODE and manner OF lie After
five years of hand-t to- hand experience
he came back to this country to answer
that question. Two points were brought
out in striking enphasis-the need OF
the people and their receptiveness to
Christianity. Under the first point Mr..
Martin told OF the immense death rate
among little children. and the utter
absence among the people OF know
ledge of how to care for children. De-
scrbing conditions in the section in
which he is settled. in the heart of the
Congo country, among the Bakuba peo-
pie. He said these people are entire-
~ unlike the Sudanese negroes from
whom the American negro Is an eX-
traction.
The Bakubas have thin lips and
aauline noses. and scientists have
claimed for them Monaghan descent.
Referring to conditions about him. the
speaker said that polygamy was prev
alent among all classes. the people OF
neighboring nation having met in
solemn assembly and limited their
King to 1888 wives S being all the
country was able to support.
"Cannibalism is also generally prac-
ticed by many of the tribes" Mr.. Mar
tin continued. II do not think this
cannbalism is on account of any love
ism: an act of worship. In many cases
II is believed that the strength and
spirit of the person eaten enters into
the eater, so that when a warrior con-
quers his adversary after struggle,
he eats his body in order to take into
himself the strength and spirit of his
enemy. While not exactly believing
in the transmigration of souls, they
believe that the spirit of sleeping
person wanders about, and may for a
time lodge in another or in some an
imal.
Turning to Christianity.
All through Central Africa the peo-
pie have lost faith in their idols and
are turning to Christianity, according
to Mr.. Martin, who told of messages
which had come from towns several
hundred miles away asking for teach
ers. which the workers had been un-
Fable to supply. He described a journey
of some months duration withtwenty
odd volunteer native helpers, who
walked twenty-five or thirty miles a
day from village to village, preaching
three times each day to Hundreds and
even thousands. the people flocking
out at the first call. Part Of this
Journey took them through an inner
province which for fifteen years has
been in successful revolt against the
rule Of King Leopold, of Belgium. Tho
warriors of this nation are now armed
with Mauser rifles and continue to re-
pei the Belgian forces.
"since the Congo mission has been
established at Luebo, over 5000 persona
have been baptized nearly all Of whom
have remained faithful, forsaken poly
gamy and thrown away their idols
said Mr.. Martin. Most of these went
through year or more OF probation,
with daily teaching, before they We're
baptized Seventy native helpers ars
now aiding the work of the foreigners
In tours through surrounding provinces.
Twenty ght kings who rule over
great nations in Central Africa have
sent their sons to our school in Luebo
to be educated and trained in Christian
ity, and to-day these twenty-eight
young princes, who will one day be the
rulers Of an uncounted multitude of
people, are living in the school build
Ing at our mission at Luebo.P
Mr.. Martin spoke in the highest
terms of the staying qualities of the
converts; telling Of the martyrdom In
Uganda, persecution more bitter and
more savage than any since the days
Of Nero, 1t Is in the Baluba province,
around Luebo, that the rubber persecu-f
| tion has been most severe, and Mr..
Martin told OF seeing men and women
by the rubber gatherers for failure to
nav their tax to the Belgian govern.