I have met with many Christian
missionaries, of various and conflicting creeds, who have
fruitlessly sown the seed of Christianity upon the barren soil of
Africa; but their labours were ill-timed, they were too early in
the field, the soil is unprepared; the missionary, however
earnest, must wait until there be some foundation for a
superstructure. Raise the level of the waters, and change the
character of the surrounding deserts: this will also raise the
intellectual condition of the inhabitants by an improvement in
the natural conditions of their country. . . . . . .
The first portion of our task was completed. We had visited all
the Nile tributaries of Abyssinia, including the great Blue Nile
that had been traced to its source by Bruce. The difficult task
still lay before us--to penetrate the unknown regions in the
distant south, to discover the White Nile source.* Speke and
Grant were on their road from Zanzibar, cutting their way upon
untrodden ground towards Gondokoro. Petherick's expedition to
assist them had met with misfortune, and we trusted to be able to
reach the equator, and perhaps to meet our Zanzibar explorers
somewhere about the sources of the Nile.
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