'OBESfBlEWIM.

 
 REV. J. HOUGHTON. 
 From Photograph by Mr. G. Hadley, Lincoln.
 
 THE 
 
 MARTYRS OF. GOLBANTI; 
 
 OR, 
 
 JEisstottarii Heroism illustrate 
 
 IN THE LIVES OF 
 REV. JOHN AND MRS. HOUGHTON, 
 
 OF EAST AFRICA. 
 BY ROBERT BREWIN, 
 
 Author of " Memoirs of Rebecca Wakefield," " Gospel Sermons 
 
 for Children," " Sanctified Humour," and Editor of 
 
 "Welcome H'ords." 
 
 " |E0beln antr pleasant in tljeir lifas, anir in iljeir 
 Ujeg inerc not trtliiirfiii." 2 Samuel i. 23. 
 
 THIRD THOUSAND. 
 
 ANDREW CROMBIE, 119, SALISBURY SQUARE, 
 FLEET STREET, E.G.
 
 BATMAN BROTHERS AND LUXY,
 
 Stack 
 
 Annex 
 
 HIS book is a plain and simple record of 
 two noble lives that were laid upon the 
 missionary altar, and accepted there. It is 
 not claimed for the faithful missionaries 
 whose story is here told that they pos- 
 sessed extraordinary abilities, that their lives were 
 filled with remarkable or striking incidents which 
 called for publication, or even that they accomplished 
 much, as the world estimates results, during the year 
 and seven months of their missionary life on the East 
 Coast of Africa. But their cheerful consecration to 
 a very difficult task, their noble self-denial for the 
 Lord's sake, their patient labour under most dis- 
 couraging circumstances, their quiet yet true heroism, 
 and the tragical death which they were permitted to 
 suffer in the fulfilment of their mission, have ren- 
 dered it fitting that some memorial of their brief and 
 inspiring missionary career should be preserved. 
 
 For the most part, Mr. and Mrs. Houghton have 
 been allowed to tell their own story. From a child
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 the writer of these memoirs has had a strong disrelish 
 for those religious biographies in which a page of 
 facts has been followed by a dozen pages of pious 
 reflections, and as he supposes that what does not 
 interest him will not interest others, he has omitted 
 the lengthy reflections, and left the facts to speak for 
 themselves. 
 
 The author wishes to acknowledge his indebted- 
 ness for portions of the volume to the Rev. T. 
 Wakefield's " Footprints in Eastern Africa," to Mr. 
 Joseph Thomson's interesting book " Through Masai 
 Land," and to the late Doctor Krapf's " Missionary 
 Travels." By the kindness of Mr. W. Brown, of 
 Craigmore, Denton, the complete series of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Houghton's letters were placed at the service of 
 the writer, and it is to these that the public are mainly 
 indebted for the interest of this volume. To Mr. 
 Brown and to other personal friends who have fur- 
 nished the author with facts for the memoirs he 
 presents his best thanks. 
 
 R. BREWIN.
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I INTRODUCTORY 9 
 
 II. EARLY YEARS OF MR. AND MRS. HOUGHTON. 
 
 THEIR LIFE IN ENGLAND . . . 13 
 
 III. THE VOYAGE TO EAST AFRICA . . .27 
 
 IV. LIFE AT JOMVU . . ' -... . 36 
 V. A VISIT TO THE GALLA COUNTRY ... 46 
 
 VI. NINE MONTHS AT RIBE 57 
 
 VII. REMOVAL TO GOLBANTI . . . . 7 '2 
 
 VIII. LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS . . . .82 
 
 IX. DARK SHADOWS . .. . . . 94 
 
 x. MR. HOUGHTON'S DIARY ... . . in 
 
 XI. FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH IIQ
 
 Hist 0f (Bn0r airings. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Portrait of Rev. J. Houghton . . Frontispiece 
 
 Mrs. Houghton 23 
 
 Siiez Canal ........ 30 
 
 Aden 32- 
 
 Frere Town, from Mombasa . . . -34 
 
 A Mission House, Frere Tou'n . . . -37 
 African Mother and Child . . . . -39 
 River Travelling by Night . . . . -43 
 
 Tent Pitched for the Night 44 
 
 Hippopotami playing in River . . . 5 1 
 
 An Iron Mission House, East Africa . . SS 
 Native Christians . . . . . . -59 
 
 African Forest Scene 67 
 
 Zanzibar . . ... . . . .70 
 
 The Harbour of Mombasa . . . . -74 
 
 Hindi Lady, East Africa 76 
 
 African River . . . . . ' . . 78 
 
 Pioneer Mission Work in East Africa . . -85 
 Masai Warrior ....... 98 
 
 Portrait of Bishop Hannington . . . .104
 
 THE n$cOT(Z OP 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BOUT nine o'clock on the morning of Thurs- 
 day, November 2nd, 1865, an English mis- 
 ;. sionary, accompanied by about twenty 
 heathen Gallas and a few half-Christianized 
 Wanika from Ribe, might have been seen 
 threading his way along a narrow and winding path 
 through the tall grass of an East African jungle 
 toward a spot previously agreed upon, where many of 
 that dark-skinned company were, for the first time in 
 their lives', to take part in a prayer-meeting. Mr. 
 Wakefield, the missionary, was seeking to establish a 
 mission among the Gallas, and after various perils 
 and adventures had succeeded in obtaining a palaver 
 with the king and his headmen upon the subject. 
 The Gallas had asked the missionary many questions, 
 and among other subjects they had introduced that 
 of the occasional visits to their country of the dreaded 
 

 
 io THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 Masai warriors, who, they said, attacked their peaceful 
 villages, carried off their cattle, and murdered all who 
 opposed them. They had asked Mr. Wakefield what 
 they ought to do in view of these terrible invasions. 
 Should they fight, or what should they do ? He had 
 said to them, " I will tell you what I, and all Christian 
 people do, when we have trouble of any kind, or are 
 threatened with enemies ; we pray to God about it, 
 and He hears us. It is this, that God is my helper 
 and protector, that divests me of the fear of man. I 
 fear nobody. If I did should I be found here alone, 
 amongst you ? God is my shield." They then asked 
 if he would also pray for them, and after some further 
 conversation it was, at their desire, agreed upon that 
 a prayer-meeting should be held upon the very spot, 
 three miles distant, where the last attack of the Masai 
 had occurred. 
 
 At length the strange procession reached the 
 appointed place, and then, coming to a halt, one of 
 the Gallas said to Mr. Wakefield, " It was here, on this 
 spot, where the Masai came upon our cattle, and 
 carried them away." The company then gathered 
 around the white stranger while he addressed them 
 upon the natureof prayer,and the necessityof reverence, 
 humility and faith, in drawing near to God. They all 
 listened with devout attention. He then said, " Now 
 this is my custom in prayer : I kneel down, close my 
 eyes and clasp my hands." They all instantly did the 
 same. Mr. Wakefield then prayed to God to give the 
 Holy Spirit to that band of heathens and to the whole
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 11 
 
 Galla people, to convince them of sin, and con- 
 vert the whole race to Himself. And that, if it were 
 His will, He would in the future prevent the dreaded 
 raids of the plundering Masai, and bless the Gallas 
 in their circumstances with an increase of cattle, that 
 they might be enabled to live, and to purchase cloths 
 and the requisites of life. When he had himself 
 finished praying, Mr. Wakefield, opening his eyes, 
 said, " Now I should like you to pray, and to pray 
 with your hearts." The king then came to the front 
 and, kneeling by Mr. Wakefield's side with clasped 
 hands and closed eyes, in a gentle and modest manner 
 uttered the following words, " My dear God, blind the 
 eyes of the Masai, that they may not come again. If 
 they should come do Thou draw them back, that they 
 may not reach us." 
 
 After prayer was over, and all rose up from their 
 knees, the king said, " If the Masai should come, 
 should we fight them ; or what should be our course 
 of conduct ? " Mr. Wakefield replied, " I will tell 
 you what I should do. I should never kill a man for 
 only stealing my property, whether that property con- 
 sisted of cattle or of anything else, because human 
 life is infinitely more valuable than all our possessions. 
 But, supposing I were living in yonder village (point- 
 ing to one at a short distance), and in it I had a wife 
 and children, relations and friends, and an enemy 
 were to come, not only for the sake of rapine, but 
 also to kill, I should certainly deem it my duty to 
 defend their lives, and also my own. Under such cir- 
 
 B 2
 
 12 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 cumstances I should fight ; but I should never con- 
 sider it justifiable to take a man's life simply because 
 he came to steal some of my cows ; by no means." 
 
 Twenty years after this first visit paid by Mr. 
 Wakefield to this intelligent and interesting people, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Houghton settled among them, on the 
 banks of the Tana, as their first resident European 
 missionaries, and it is the brief story of their life- 
 work and early death at the hands of the cruel Masai 
 that we have now to tell in this volume.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 *ars 0f Jttr. anb Jltrs. U0ti0Ijt0tt. 
 Ijm life in <Btt0lan0. 
 
 [HE Rev. John Houghton was born at Sheving- 
 ton, Lancashire, on March 26th, 1858, but 
 when he was very young removed to 
 Lamberhead Green in the Wigan Circuit, 
 where he became a scholar in the Methodist 
 Free Church Sunday-school. When he was eleven 
 years of age his mother .removed with him to Denton, 
 near Manchester, where he found employment in a hat 
 manufactory, proud to assist his mother by his earnings, 
 and already showing that filial piety which was a passion 
 of his life, and which burned on with increasing bright- 
 ness to its close. His broad, bright face was quite an 
 ornament to the classes he successively joined in the 
 Denton Sunday-school, and he soon rose in the affec- 
 tion of his various teachers, and at length was invited 
 to take charge of a class himself. 
 
 His conversion to God took place in the month 
 of August, 1873, just a few weeks after one of our 
 East African missionaries, Mrs. Wakefield, had died 
 at Ribe. He was at this time fifteen and a half years 
 of age. The Rev. George Hargreaves had just 
 been appointed to the Denton Circuit, and on the first 
 Sunday evening of his labours in Denton he preached
 
 14 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 from the text, " And there went with him a band of 
 men whose hearts God had touched." (i Sam. x. 26.) 
 Young John Houghton was present at the service, 
 and remained to the prayer-meeting which was held 
 afterwards. From his seat close by the door he had 
 listened to an earnest appeal made by the preacher 
 at the close of the sermon, and had resolved in answer 
 to that appeal that he would on that night consecrate 
 his life to God, and become himself one of " a band 
 of men whose hearts God had touched." The prayer- 
 meeting was no sooner commenced than he rose from 
 his seat, walked through the long aisle to the com- 
 munion rail, and, kneeling there, yielded himself up 
 to his Saviour. Assisted by the prayers and counsel 
 of the minister and others, he was led to see the way of 
 faith, and rose from his knees rejoicing in the forgive- 
 ness of sins, and in the commencement of a new life 
 in Christ Jesus. How many thousands of persons have 
 been led into the enjoyments of the Christian life 
 through the Sabbath evening prayer-meeting, who 
 can tell ? May these glorious opportunities of blessing 
 souls ever be maintained in all their vigour and power 
 in every Methodist chapel in the land. 
 
 Immediately after his conversion he joined him- 
 self to the Church at Denton. His attendance at 
 the class meeting was both regular and punctual, and 
 he determined so to improve and cultivate his mind 
 by reading and study, as to fit himself for any Christ- 
 ian work to which the Lord might call him. At 
 eighteen years of age he became a local preacher, and
 
 LIFE IN ENGLAND. 15 
 
 the rapidity of his intellectual and spiritual growth 
 were a surprise and joy to those who knew him. One 
 of his early and well-remembered sermons was from 
 the text, " But none of these things move me, neither 
 count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might 
 finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I 
 have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel 
 of the grace of God " (Acts xx. 24) : a text which, it 
 may be said here, fairly illustrates his own exalted 
 views of his work throughout the whole course of his 
 ministerial career. 
 
 His rapid spiritual and intellectual development 
 led those about him to feel with himself that he was 
 called to a more full employment of his gifts than 
 was consistent with his employment in a hatter's ware- 
 house, and, not without shrinkings of heart in view of 
 the greatness of the work of the Christian ministry, 
 he offered his services to the Connexional Committee 
 of the United Methodist Free Churches, for either the 
 home or the foreign work. He was accepted, and in 
 the year 1879, in the twenty-second year of his age, 
 he entered upon a two years' course of college train- 
 ing, at the Theological Institute, Crescent Range, Man- 
 chester, attending also some of the classes at Owens 
 College, close by. At the institute he was a great 
 favourite with his fellow-students. His room was a 
 frequent place of assembly for conversation and dis- 
 cussion. His own theological views were broad and 
 catholic, but he grasped with unshaken faith those 
 great doctrinal truths which are the stay and strength
 
 1 6 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 of all true Christian life. His friends who knew him 
 at the college speak of him as of serious demeanour, 
 yet possessed of abundant quiet humour, and having at 
 all times the courage of his convictions. At Owens 
 College, he obtained, in the logic class, a first class 
 certificate, and in the institute he carried off, in 1881, 
 the Cuthbertson prize of 10. 
 
 At the Annual Assembly of 1881 he was appointed 
 to the Bramley Circuit, with the Rev. Charles Tregon- 
 ing as his colleague. Mr. Houghton's residence was 
 at Kirkstall. Writing from this place on September 
 8th, he says : 
 
 " I arrived here safely, and on Saturday the recep- 
 tion tea, as announced, was held. The welcome was 
 most free and generous, such as Yorkshiremen can 
 give. The representatives from each of the nine 
 Churches shook our hands in token of welcome, and 
 each shake was endorsed by a ringing cheer. On the 
 Monday following we had a tea meeting at Kirkstall, 
 specially to welcome ' the young man,' when the same 
 heartiness was shown. I have preached now at most 
 of the places, and enjoyed the services very much. 
 On the whole I am very contented. To be sure there 
 comes over me sometimes a strange yearning for a 
 look at old places and loved places ; but having 
 plenty of work effectually prevents the fostering of 
 such a weakness, as the philosopher would call it. 
 Mr. Tregoning is a nice fellow, very generous- 
 hearted. At the Circuit tea meeting he specially 
 commended his colleague to the sympathy of the
 
 LIFE IN ENGLAND. 17 
 
 people, and exhorted them all to 'deal gently with the 
 young man.'" 
 
 He remained in the Bramley Circuit two years, 
 and won universal esteem. His colleague says of 
 him : " I shall ever cherish a deep and abiding affec- 
 tionate regard for him as a true friend, and an agree- 
 able and devoted minister of the Gospel of Christ. I 
 regarded him as a preacher of more than average 
 ability, and think that if his life had been spared he 
 would have made a missionary of power, of the Rev. 
 Charles New and Thomas Wakefield type, in the great 
 field of Christian labour to which he had consecrated 
 himself." 
 
 In the month of August, 1883, he removed to 
 Lincoln, to take charge of the Saxon Street Church. 
 Writing on October 3Oth, 1883, he says : " I like the 
 change to Lincoln. The city is a quaint old place, 
 full of interest for antiquarians and archaeologists. 
 There are ruins everywhere about I live in an old 
 Roman road, spanned by an arch through which I 
 daily pass, along which undoubtedly the proud legions 
 of Rome have travelled. The cathedral is just inex- 
 pressible. I have been through it and round it many 
 times, but find some fresh beauty and grandeur in it at 
 every glance. It is a thing you cannot take in all at 
 once, it has to grow upon you. But there is no free 
 library here as in Manchester, and scarcely any educa- 
 tional advantages. The country round here is just 
 decent. I should like it better if it was not so flat. 
 At first it is rather pretty to see for a long distance
 
 18 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 green fields and hedgerows, with farms dotted here 
 and there over the country, but on further acquaint- 
 ance it becomes monotonous. There is very little 
 woodland here, and although the country is close 
 upon you the sameness of the scenery does not tend 
 to make one very enthusiastic in the matter of solitary 
 rambles. The Church seems in a healthy condition. 
 All the seats are let and we are often full on Sunday 
 evenings. There is a magnificent school with about 
 650 scholars and a good staff of teachers, with large 
 assembly rooms and many class rooms. I preach 
 every Sunday, though not always all day, and once a 
 fortnight on Tuesday evenings." 
 
 His high Christian character and thorough devo- 
 tion to his work among his people at Saxon Street 
 were much admired. He endeared himself to the 
 hearts of all, both young and old ; and the bold, 
 earnest, and manly expositions of Divine truth that 
 fell from his lips during his short term of service in 
 Lincoln will long exercise a beneficent influence over 
 those who were privileged to listen to them. 
 
 It was, however, only a few months after his ap- 
 pointment to the Saxon Street Church that that 
 change in his ministerial life was determined upon 
 which brought his work in England to an early and 
 sudden close. A special fund of .1000 was being raised 
 in the denomination with the view of planting Euro- 
 pean missionaries in the Galla country, and the mission- 
 ary committee issued an appeal for men for this service. 
 How this appeal came home to his heart, and changed
 
 LIFE IN ENGLAND. 19 
 
 the whole course of his career, is told by himself in 
 a letter to a friend. Writing on July 8th, 1884, he 
 says, replying to a certain request from that friend : 
 " I should be glad in the ordinary course of things to 
 help you in the way you suggest. But the course of 
 things with me is not ordinary. I have offered for 
 East Africa, and shall most likely be accepted, and 
 take my departure in the autumn. It has been a 
 most painful thing to do, and never in my life were 
 duty and inclination so sharply opposed. I have 
 always felt that such would be my life-work ; and 
 when a circular-letter from Mr. Adcock announced 
 that money was waiting for a man, it seemed to me a 
 direct call, and I dared not refuse it. I am sorry most 
 to leave my present sphere, a better, nobler people 
 is not in the Connexion." 
 
 A friend of his youthful days thus relates the ac- 
 count he received from Mr. Houghton's own lips of 
 his call to the missionary work in Eastern Africa. He 
 says : " While taking a walk with Mr. Houghton one 
 evening, I asked him why he was leaving home, his 
 dear mother, and all his kind friends, for a home 
 which was more like banishment. His reply almost 
 startled me. He said : ' Well, it does seem hard, and, 
 if I might exercise my will, perhaps I should remain 
 in England. I have often read and heard of people 
 being called to some special work, and always had a 
 doubt about them, but now the experience is my own. 
 Strange to say, as I was sitting in my study reading 
 about our missionary work, the request of our Annual
 
 20 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 Assembly came before my mind for a volunteer to 
 take the Galla mission. As quick as thought I was 
 impressed, " John, you are the man : this is your 
 work." It was as though a voice whispered to me. I 
 was so deeply struck that I fell into a kind of reverie. 
 I roused myself up, so that I might be sure it was no 
 dream, and took a walk, but to no purpose. I again 
 tried to read, but all I could see was, "A volunteer for 
 the Galla mission." I retired to my bed, but could 
 not rest, and after a weary night I rose next morning 
 and wrote a letter at once offering for the Galla mis- 
 sion. Now you know why I leave home. Could I 
 resist this duty ? ' " 
 
 Some of his friends, anxious to retain his services 
 for the Churches at home, tried to dissuade him from 
 taking the step upon which his decision was now made 
 known. To their remonstrances he quietly replied, 
 " Yes, there is plenty to do here, and I quite see that 
 I might possibly do more good by staying, still I have 
 such a strong conviction that this Galla work is for me 
 that I must go." When other persons set before him 
 the sufferings and perils he would probably have to face 
 in planting a new mission in Africa he said, " We are 
 going to Africa to work ; not to seek all these horrors 
 spoken of. If we meet with them we must do our 
 best." These answers fairly show the man. 
 
 Mr. Houghton was not destined to go out to East 
 Africa alone. He was at this time engaged to be 
 married to Miss Annie Brown, of Craigmore, Denton, 
 a sister of one of the partners in the firm of Messrs.
 
 LIFE IN ENGLAND. 21 
 
 Moores, Birkby and Brown, hat manufacturers, whose 
 warehouse he left to enter the Theological Institute 
 at Manchester : and this brave and good Christian 
 woman nobly and cheerfully determined to cast in 
 her lot with this new missionary enterprise, and go 
 out with Mr. Houghton to assist him in his sacred 
 though perilous work. 
 
 Perhaps too much can hardly be said in praise of 
 the calm, heroic consecration to her life-work that 
 must be allowed to reveal itself in Mrs. Houghton's 
 lively and interesting letters to her friends, but there 
 is not much of special interest to the general reader 
 which requires to be told concerning the early life of 
 this brave woman. 
 
 She was the youngest daughter of Mr. John Brown, 
 of Shaw Heath, near Stockport, where she was born 
 on May I5th, 1852. When she was five years old her 
 mother died, and her father having gone to New 
 Zealand, where he also died, she was received under 
 the care, first of an uncle, and, upon his death, of her 
 grandmother, and here was her real home. She left 
 school early and went to work as a hat-trimmer, first 
 at Messrs. Christy and Go's., and afterwards, for 
 many years (indeed up to the time of her marriage) in 
 the trimming department of the hat factory in which 
 her brother was one of the partners, and in which she 
 occupied the important position of fore-mistress. It 
 was here that Mr. Houghton formed her acquaintance. 
 
 Her conversion was brought about mainly through 
 the efforts of the teachers in the celebrated Stockport
 
 22 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 Sunday-school, in which she was first a scholar and 
 afterwards, for many years, a diligent and successful 
 teacher. She was commonly of a grave and quiet 
 demeanour, more practical than sentimental, and yet 
 sometimes astonished her friends by bright sallies of 
 humour and wit that put the whole circle into hearty 
 laughter. She was very generous and kind to the 
 poor, often, after a hard day's labour at the works, 
 spending the evening hours in making up or trimming 
 hats for the poorer scholars in the Sunday-school, or, 
 Dorcas-like, in making garments for the needy. For 
 her, living was doing. She was kind and considerate 
 to the workpeople, who bear the most grateful tribute 
 to her generous conduct toward them. 
 
 When Mr. Houghton's decision to go to Africa was 
 made known to her it did not take her by surprise. 
 She had, before this, had thoughts of devoting herself 
 to a missionary life, and had been strengthened in 
 this leaning through reading the life of Dr. Norman 
 Macleod, a book which she frequently commended to 
 the notice of her friends. 
 
 Her marriage took place at Denton on September 
 4th, 1884, in the presence of a large number of friends, 
 the Rev. W. Skinner performing the ceremony. 
 Among the numerous presents was a medicine chest, 
 on receiving which Mr. Houghton observed, " Rest 
 assured, with God's help, and the aid of that chest, we 
 shall live as long as we can." 
 
 The short honeymoon was spent at Lytham, and 
 then the time was divided between the necessary pre-
 
 MRS. HOUGHTON. 
 From a Photograph by Mr. G. Hadley, Lincoln.
 
 LIFE IN ENGLAND. 25 
 
 parations for the voyage and the paying of " flying 
 visits " to her own and Mr. Houghton's friends. These 
 farewell visits were not much to Mrs. Houghton's 
 mind. She observed : " To go about and receive so 
 many kind receptions, a farewell sermon here, another 
 there, to be the object of such kind yet curious interest 
 may be all very well, but it does not suit me. It is 
 too much like being on view ; and now that we have 
 decided to go, I don't care how soon we are right- 
 about-face with the work before us." 
 
 At Lytham the bride and bridegroom had met 
 Mr. Houghton's former colleague, the Rev. Charles 
 Tregoning, and he had some conversation with them 
 upon the subject of their approaching departure for the 
 mission field. Mr. Houghton said : " This call to the 
 mission work in East Africa is a call from God, and I 
 dare not resist it." Mr. Tregoning said : " What about 
 your mother and other friends ? Is this course of action 
 agreeable to them ? " He replied : " They are not so 
 willing that we should go, but God calls, and I must 
 not refuse." 
 
 The last farewells soon came. The few days 
 immediately before sailing were spent in London, in 
 making purchases, paying visits, and in sight-seeing 
 with a sad heart. On Wednesday morning, October 
 22nd, they went on board the S.S. Kerbela, which lay 
 moored close to the wharf of the Royal Albert Dock, 
 London, accompanied by the Missionary Secretary and 
 other ministers, a number of London Free Methodists, 
 and some of their own dearest personal friends. The 
 
 C
 
 26 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 Rev. J. Baxter and Mrs. Baxter were also going out to 
 East Africa as fellow-missionaries, and many friends 
 were there also to witness their departure. The last 
 bell is rung; the usual announcement, "Non-pas- 
 sengers ashore," is made, and the time for heart-aching 
 and farewell has come. Both Mr. and Mrs. Houghton 
 bore up bravely, Mr. Houghton being bright, almost 
 to gaiety as he heartily shook the hands of those who 
 one by one wished him a pleasant voyage. When 
 Mrs. Houghton came to say the last good-bye to her 
 brother there was much suppressed emotion, but it was 
 her nature to be brave, and she was brave to the last. 
 Standing on the upper deck, with a large bouquet in her 
 hand (the parting gift of a lady friend), and still strug- 
 gling to be calm, as the vessel is gliding out into the 
 river she flings her last words to the ears of her loved 
 ones, " Fear not for me : I shall be all right ; " and 
 soon the vessel with its precious freight is lost to view 
 in the distance.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 to (Bast JUrira. 
 
 HE voyage from London to Mombasa, East 
 Africa, occupied over five weeks, and the 
 following extracts from letters written on 
 the way will, we believe, be of interest to the 
 reader. Mrs. Houghton writes : 
 
 " TRAFALGAR BAY, October 28//*, 1884. 
 "We expect to-morrow to stop at Gibraltar for 
 coal, so I am just writing you a line to let you know 
 how we are getting along. As we were crossing the 
 Bay of Biscay on Sunday and Monday there was a 
 heavy swell, and I had to keep my berth for two days 
 with sea-sickness. I am now feeling quite strong 
 again. The weather so far has been very favourable 
 Yesterday was very warm and we had a very clear, 
 moonlight night." 
 
 The call at Gibraltar proved very pleasant. Writ- 
 ing on November 4th, Mr. Houghton says : 
 
 "We arrived at Gibraltar early on Wednesday 
 morning, passing through the straits by daylight, 
 and before nine o'clock were alongside a coaling vessel 
 from Cardiff. There is a beautiful view of the fort 
 from the bay. It was a lovely morning, bright, warm, 
 and calm. There was not a ripple on the water, and 
 
 C2
 
 28 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 as we steamed slowly along, the magnificent rock 
 more than 1,000 feet high, which stands straight out 
 from the water, revealed its different points of interest. 
 We were surprised to find a moderate-sized town, or 
 rather double-town, English and Spanish, with some 
 really fine public buildings. The English part came 
 first in sight, with its pretty church, asylum, park-like 
 walks and gardens, and well-built houses. Its popula- 
 tion is 6,000. The Spanish town is much larger* 
 though not so handsome. The houses, both English 
 and Spanish, have a bright look, being built of a yel- 
 lowish stone, and, reclining upon the one side of the 
 rock which allows of their being perched upon it, look 
 very picturesque indeed. 
 
 " We went ashore in a small boat, very glad to 
 escape from the numerous vendors of small articles 
 who had crowded our decks, and were vigorously 
 pushing the sale of their goods in boats below. On 
 landing at the miserable apology for a quay, we made 
 our way under the direction of a guide to the market- 
 place, and found it a very handsome and spacious one, 
 with one end for meat, another for fruit and vegetables 
 and one for fish. There is a separate market for the 
 use of the Jews. After breakfast we were ready for the 
 ascent of the Rock, and this we did in fine state. We 
 were a party of six. For Mrs. Baxter and Mrs. Hough- 
 ton we had two fine Egyptian donkeys, and we four 
 gentlemen rode another by turns. It was a fine sight 
 for a bright morning. The ladies had a boy each to 
 hold the saddles on, and drive the animals. In a short
 
 THE VOYAGE TO EAST AFRICA. 29 
 
 time we came to the oldest building on the rock, a 
 Moorish castle six hundred years old. It was a rude 
 structure, but well built, and in good preservation. 
 Near it is a splendid hospital for civilians, quite new. 
 The hill itself has been cut into to gain points of 
 vantage for cannon, and a long, circular rising tunnel, 
 termed the gallery, cut through the solid rock, we were 
 allowed to enter, beasts and all. It was great fun 
 going along this gallery, as we were sometimes in the 
 dark, and had to take our choice between backing or 
 breaking our heads against the rock. When we 
 emerged we were rewarded with a fine view of the 
 bay, and of the Spanish territory ; its large amphi- 
 theatre for bull-fights standing prominently out in the 
 distance. We also had beneath us the neutral ground, 
 a strip of barren land separating English from Spanish 
 soil. Still higher we came, bathed in perspiration, to 
 the signal station at the top, the highest point of all, 
 and here it was as hot as June at Denton. The view 
 was grand beyond description. The bay in front was 
 as calm as a 'lake, and so was the Mediterranean 
 behind us. A hundred-ton gun looked like a play- 
 thing, and a score of men cleaning it like pigmies. In 
 coming down again we saw a cave which had many 
 natural pillars, formed by deposits of lime from 
 falling water. It was of immense depth, and when 
 lighted up by a blue light looked very grand and 
 weird. We scampered down quickly, to the peril of 
 the ladies, who lost all control of the donkeys in 
 laughter, and proceeded back to the hotel ; then bought
 
 THE VOYAGE TO EAST AFRICA. 31 
 
 some oranges, lemons, figs, &c., and made our way to 
 the Kerbela, looking, by the way, at some of our largest 
 gunboats anchored in the bay, having all of us been both 
 delighted and benefited by our visit to Gibraltar. We 
 steamed out about 2.30, and were soon in the Mediter- 
 ranean. We had a few days nice sailing, and then a 
 rough time, everybody being sick again. Mrs. 
 Houghton, when better, got nearly pitched overboard, 
 and had to be tied down on the deck. We took in 
 coals at Port Said on Friday night, passed the canal on 
 Saturday and Sunday, and are now in the Red Sea 
 near Mount Sinai." 
 
 On November i8th, Mr. Houghton gives us a 
 glimpse of the port of Aden 
 
 " November 1 8th. To-day is Tuesday. We came 
 ashore yesterday, and have spent one night at the 
 hotel. Aden is a huge volcanic rock, without any 
 vegetation whatever : dry, bare rock. There is a 
 population of 25,000, besides 6,000 soldiers. Some- 
 how the people find a means of subsistence. They 
 are mostly negroes, Arabs, and Parsees. We went 
 this morning to the tanks, some four miles away. 
 These are natural reservoirs of an unknown age, the 
 craters of an extinct volcano. They are now empty, 
 it being nearly two years since there was any rain. 
 All the water the people now drink is condensed from 
 the sea. Aden is very hot. It is winter now, but the 
 climate is far hotter than our summer. We go aboard 
 the Abyssinia to-day, and sail to-morrow for Mombasa, 
 hoping to reach there in seven or eight days."
 
 32 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 The next extract brings our voyagers almost 
 within sight of Mombasa 
 
 " S.S. Abyssinia, LAMU, November 26th, 1884. 
 We are now within one day of our journey's end. We 
 have made a good passage in the Abyssinia, with fine 
 weather and no sickness to speak of. There is a nice 
 
 company on board, though varied in character. We 
 have French and Portuguese merchants going to 
 Zanzibar, Belgian explorers bound for Lake Tan- 
 ganyika, Roman Catholic missionaries, an army 
 captain and his wife bound for the Cape, Arabs, and 
 about eighty or ninety negro children rescued from 
 slavery by a British gunboat in the Persian gulf.
 
 THE VOYAGE TO EAST AFRICA. 33 
 
 They, along with many men and some few women 
 were in three Arab dhows, and, after a hot chase and 
 capture, were brought to Aden. The children are 
 going to Mombasa to a school under the care of the 
 English Church missionaries. They are a lively party, 
 and make the under-deck ring with their merry 
 laughter. Lamu is a small town with a British 
 consul, and is also one of our stations, the one, in fact, 
 which is designed as the base of our operations in the 
 Galla country." He adds : " I went ashore early this 
 morning with a small shooting party. We saw many 
 fine birds of lovely plumage and beautiful butterflies. 
 We also saw numbers of huge monkeys, and shot a 
 couple of deer." This was Mr. Houghton's first 
 adventure on the continent of Africa. 
 
 Mrs. Houghton gives the following account of the 
 arrival of the missionary party in East Africa, and of 
 her first impressions of Jomvu and its people. She 
 says, writing on December loth : 
 
 " We arrived at Mombasa on November 28th, a 
 day earlier than we were expected ; so we stayed one 
 night with Mr. and Mrs. Handford, missionaries of the 
 Church of England at Frere Town. We were very 
 comfortable, and the change was most agreeable after 
 nearly six weeks' sailing, though we had a splendid 
 voyage. On the following day, November 29th, Mr. 
 Wakefield brought from Jomvu the mission boat. 
 Jomvu is about two hours' sail from Frere Town. 
 
 " On our arrival the natives assembled in large 
 numbers to greet us, and gave us a most welcome
 
 THE VOYAGE TO EAST AFRICA. 35 
 
 reception with shooting-, singing, dancing, and other 
 performances I could not well understand. Jomvu is 
 a very pretty place, with hills, dales, trees, and flowers. 
 In fact the whole place seems to be like a huge park. 
 The flowers are not like our English flowers, but some 
 of them are equally beautiful. We are staying with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield for some months until we 
 know something of the language. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wakefield are exceedingly kind. Mr. Wakefield is by 
 no means an old gentleman. They are exceedingly 
 happy : they are both very lively, and this is very 
 cheering in this country where friends are few. It is 
 now the warm season, which we shall have until March. 
 We have the sun shining powerfully, though it is often 
 tempered by a breeze, so we do not experience very 
 much inconvenience from the heat. My greatest 
 trouble at present is from the mosquitoes. They are 
 so fond of me, but I am told they will cease to trouble 
 me shortly." She adds : " We have service for the 
 natives every morning at six o'clock. On Sundays 
 we have three services. I do trust we shall be able to 
 do a good work here, for the natives are very ignorant, 
 though teachable. I am sure if some of our Churches 
 and schools knew more about the poor people here 
 they would do more for the missionary cause." 
 
 NOTE. The following directions may assist the reader in the pro- 
 nunciation of East African names. The letter " e " is never silent. 
 " A " is pronounced like "a" in " mamma," "e" like "a" in pane, 
 " i " as " e " in " be," '' o " has both the short and long sound as in 
 English, " u " is not pronounced as if it were spelt " yu " but more 
 like " oo " and " w" and " y " are pronounced as in English.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 iie at 
 
 the time the missionary party landed in 
 Eastern Africa the United Methodist Free 
 Churches had three principal stations in that 
 country. The most important of these was 
 at Jomvu, a village of some 200 inhabitants, 
 which is distant about twelve miles from Mombasa, 
 from which town a winding and ever-narrowing tidal 
 creek extends right up to the place. Ribe, the older 
 mission station, but now of less importance, stands 
 on the hills about eight miles inland from Jomvu, a 
 rolling forest-like country separating them. Ribe 
 was formerly reached by a sail of twelve miles along 
 another creek, also running up from Mombasa, and 
 then by a rough journey of six miles through the 
 forest, but the Jomvu route is now preferred. The 
 third station was at Golbanti, some distance in- 
 land from Lamu, a seaport 130 miles north of 
 Mombasa. The Jomvu station, with about 100 mem- 
 bers in Society, was under the care of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wakefield. Mr. During, an able native minister from 
 Western Africa, was at Golbanti, engaged in planting 
 the new mission to the Gallas, and Ribe, with nearly 
 seventy members, was without a resident white mis-
 
 3 8 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 sionary. Mrs. During lived there, and, assisted by 
 native agents, carried forward the daily services. For 
 about five months after their arrival in Eastern Africa 
 Mr. and Mrs. Houghton made their home with Mr. 
 and Mrs. Wakefield at Jomvu. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter 
 also resided for the first few weeks with Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wakefield, but afterwards moved into a cottage near 
 at hand which had been prepared for them. 
 
 The most interesting account of these first five 
 months in their adopted land, is found in the letters 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Houghton to their English friends, 
 and as these have been kindly placed at the disposal 
 of the writer, selections from them are now placed 
 before the readers of this volume. 
 
 Writing on January loth, 1885, Mrs. Houghton 
 says: 
 
 " We do not get along with the language very 
 quickly. I don't think I shall ever learn it properly, 
 I shall be so'glad to get just what I shall be able to 
 manage with. Mr. Houghton and Mr. Baxter preach 
 by turns, and Mr. Wakefield translates. I have a 
 sewing class every afternoon. There are married 
 women in it who can scarcely sew a stitch. Some of 
 them bring their babies with them tied on their backs. 
 The babes are quite naked, and some of the mothers 
 have only a loin cloth, and others just a kind of loose 
 garment. We have been making loose jackets and 
 skirts during the last few weeks for a few of them who 
 are anxious to look decent. We charge them a small 
 sum for them or we should never get along at all.
 
 LIFE ATJOMVU. 39 
 
 The women are more industrious than the men. The 
 men will lay themselves down beside their work if 
 not prevented, but they are very quiet and harmless 
 people." 
 
 AFRICAN HEATHEN MOTHER AND CHILD. 
 
 Writing on the same date, Mr. Houghton-puts in 
 a letter for one of his young nephews, in which he 
 says : " If it is too cold for you at Denton you must 
 come to Jomvu. It is always warm here. We don't
 
 40 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 have any fog, or frost, or snow. The sun shines 
 brightly every day. The house we live in is larger 
 than yours at Craigmore. The rooms are as large as 
 your dining-room and parlour in one, with wide doors 
 and windows without any glass in them, to let the 
 air go right through them. We have a large garden 
 with many beautiful flowers in it, some of them only 
 open when the sun is going down, and are called 
 ' four o'clocks.' There is a beautiful wide river comes 
 up here from the sea, and sometimes when the tide 
 is up we go fishing. Yesterday we caught a young 
 shark, and the day before an eel, besides other fish. 
 There are some very nice butterflies and beetles here, 
 and, what is not nice, sometimes we have hyenas 
 come at night. Last night a leopard came and 
 carried a little child some distance away ; but a 
 man ran after it and frightened it, so that it dropped 
 the child, and we had to get up and bandage its little 
 neck, where the leopard's teeth had been. The child 
 was sleeping outside when the beast came." 
 
 In a letter to another friend, under date of January 
 2ist, 1885, Mr. Houghton says : 
 
 " We are now settling down in our new sphere. 
 The habits and customs of the people, and the new 
 habits we have had to form seemed strange to us. 
 It is astonishing how different from one's preconceived 
 ideas is Africa and African mission work. The climate 
 is not nearly so hot as we thought. At mid-day, of 
 course, it is almost unbearable out of doors, but morning 
 and evening it is not unpleasant. It is trying because
 
 LIFE AT JOMVU. 41 
 
 it is always the same. Fever is like a severe cold with 
 violent headache, and may arise from undue exposure 
 to the sun, or from sitting in a draught, and is only 
 dangerous because of the great weakness it induces. 
 Mrs. Houghton has had her first experience of it, but, 
 I am glad to say, is quite well again. 
 
 " Jomvu is pleasantly situated. It is high, near a 
 creek of the sea, and not near any malarious swamp. 
 The country round here is very different from what 
 one might expect. From Jomvu there are splendid 
 views of hill and dale on every side ; trees and wild 
 flowers and green grass always meet the eye. The 
 face of the country is not unlike, some of our home 
 scenery : and, about Ribe, there is little at home to 
 match it. Insect life is everywhere abundant, and, in 
 some cases, more annoying than interesting. Butter- 
 flies and beetles are very beautiful. We have wild 
 animals, but never see them, as they come in the 
 night. Hyenas, leopards, and sometimes lions visit 
 us, but Mr. Wakefield in his twenty-five years here 
 has seen none of these alive. A leopard, however, on 
 Saturday came right into the town, and carried away 
 a child which was following its mother, and although 
 it was recovered by frightening the animal, it died the 
 next day. 
 
 " Jomvu itself has become a town of some 200 
 people, many of them runaway slaves, and of the lowest 
 type of humanity ; gathered together for the purpose of 
 obtaining work and shelter. The Galla mission is, I 
 think, likely to prove a more hopeful enterprise. The 
 
 D
 
 42 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 few Gallas here are certainly superior to the rest of 
 our people. It is probable I may go to this mission 
 ere long, and then shall be able to give an impression 
 of our prospects. 
 
 " Anyhow we are to take our part in the evangeliza- 
 tion of Africa. All the societies are doing their utmost. 
 The Free Churches have taken their position, and 
 are pledged to further effort. In proportion to 
 the difficulty of an enterprise should be our zeal in 
 its promotion. Mr. During, an African from the 
 West Coast, is a splendid fellow, and several others 
 who have had an English training show that the 
 difference is not in the men but in their unfortu- 
 tunate position ; and it seems very probable that 
 Africans on the whole are superior to our own fore- 
 fathers, the ancient Britons. 
 
 " We are living still with Mr. Wakefield in a large, 
 fine, stone house, and find constant employment in 
 painting, joiner's work, and general oversight of other 
 labourers. We are studying the language too, and 
 find much interest there. Mrs. Houghton is teaching 
 the women to sew. Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield and Mr. 
 and Mrs. Baxter are all busy, and generally well." 
 
 Writing on February I5th, Mr. Houghton describes 
 a hurried journey to Ribe, and makes a touching 
 reference to his expected settlement in the Galla 
 country. He says : 
 
 " We are going on as usual, but are just on the eve 
 of a new experience. I expect going on Wednesday 
 to Lamu, and from thence to the Galla country.
 
 D 2
 
 44 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 Mrs. Houghton stays here with Mrs. Wakefield and 
 the Baxters, until we see what kind of a house is there, 
 when I shall return for her, and we shall make our 
 home there. The Galla mission is yet in its infancy, 
 and maybe we shall have to rough it for a few months : 
 but that has no terrors for us" He continues 
 
 " Last Sunday we got word from Ribe that Mrs. 
 During (who lives there while her husband is in the 
 Galla country) was very ill. Mr. Wakefield and I 
 set off at once, taking with us that invaluable medicine 
 chest the good folks at Denton gave me. The walk 
 was through eight miles of bush, over hill and dale, 
 and not unenjoyable in the cool of the evening. It 
 was quite dark before we got there, and it was quite 
 an African-like scene that we presented. Mr. Wake- 
 field and I without coats, and with helmets, knicker- 
 
 TENT PITCHED FOR THE NIGHT.
 
 LIFE AT JOMVU. 45 
 
 bockers, and large boots, threaded our way, long sticks 
 in hand, across rivers and through dangerous places, 
 by the aid of a lantern held by our black cook. 
 Above us the stars shone most brilliantly, and, when 
 we halted to drink the delicious liquor of our cocoa- 
 nuts, we could not but wish it was possible for you 
 to see a starlight night in this clear sky. We found 
 Mrs. During not so ill as we expected, and by a few 
 doses of medicine put her in the way to recovery. 
 
 " Two days before this we went to Duruma (about 
 nine miles in another direction), to confer with the 
 chief men of the tribe who had sent for us about 
 establishing a mission there. In all these journeys 
 we have to take our own provisions, cook, and tent. 
 From Duruma we returned to Jomvu by boat, think- 
 ing we should get home sooner, but it was two o'clock 
 in the morning before we reached our alarmed wives 
 at Jomvu ; having been cramped in a little boat for 
 seven hours. But after a good sleep we were none 
 the worse for our adventure."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 fttstt to ifc alia tttmntm. 
 
 EFORE we accompany Mr. Houghton in his 
 first journey to Golbanti, for which he was 
 now preparing, it will be proper that we shall 
 take a glimpse of Mr. During, amid his dif- 
 ficult task of establishing the mission among 
 the Gallas. 
 
 It was on Christmas Day, 1883, that this intelligent 
 and faithful African missionary, accompanied by- 
 several converted Gallas, left Jomvu to form a Christian 
 settlement in the Galla country and so establish the 
 long-talked-of Mission there. The party reached 
 Lamu and Kipini safely, and after many difficulties 
 and discouragements at length were permitted to settle 
 at Golbanti, with the view of Christianizing this inter- 
 esting but heathen people. Some idea of the diffi- 
 culties of establishing a mission among a savage 
 people may be gathered from the following incident, 
 related by Mr. During concerning his arrival among 
 this people. " We were told by some Wakopomos to 
 wait outside the town till the Gallas should come. In 
 about twenty minutes Kurti came running toward us, 
 gasping for breath, and saying, ' Make haste and
 
 A VISIT TO THE GALL A COUNTRY. 47 
 
 leave this place, for the Gallas are coming to binekiza 
 you all, and kill you.' They came, twenty in number, 
 with spears. I inquired the reason of their being so 
 enraged, and anxious to fight. I said, ' I am but a 
 stranger, a messenger of good tidings, of peace to you, 
 the Gallas.' ' Nay,' they said, ' we won't have you 
 here.' I replied, ' I am come at the invitation of your 
 chief, Aba Roba Jilsat' 'Nay,' they said, 'we will 
 not have you.' Then they questioned Aba Shora and 
 Shakala (Christian Gallas). ' Do you not know the 
 custom of your forefathers ? The state of our country 
 as it now is ; do you not see that we are almost 
 dwindled to nothing. Our children and our wives 
 are taken captives and sold into slavery, all through 
 our allowing the white man to come to our country. 
 You are not as yet satisfied ; and you bring your dunga 
 gnracJi (black white man) to finish us up. Be off. 
 Go home.' " Surely it must have been very trying to 
 the faith and patience of Mr. During, to be treated 
 in this manner. He persevered in his work, however, 
 purchased a plot of ground at Golbanti, close to the 
 River Tana, built an iron mission-house and a small 
 chapel, commenced teaching the natives, and, at the 
 time of Mr. Houghton's visit, had gathered an inter- 
 esting little company of candidates for Christian 
 baptism. 
 
 Mr. Wakefield and Mr. Houghton set out upon 
 the proposed visit to Golbanti about the middle of 
 February, and the account of this journey will be 
 best given in Mr. Houghton's own words. He says
 
 48 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 in a letter to the writer, sent for insertion in Welcome 
 Words : 
 
 " On Ash Wednesday, February i8th, here a bright 
 hot day, Mr. Wakefield and myself, our two cooks 
 and a boy, left Jomvu, in the Spotland, for Mombasa, 
 where we were to embark for Lamu, a Swahili town 
 130 miles nearer home than Mombasa. This part of 
 the journey was very pleasant. In the steamer the 
 sea breezes and cool evenings were very refreshing to 
 us who had not known the thermometer much below 
 ninety degrees, night or day, for some weeks. For a 
 too eager desire to enjoy the cool breeze I had to pay 
 in a first fever next day at Lamu, brought on through 
 sleeping in the draught from a port-hole of the cabin 
 in which we lay. This delayed us for a couple of 
 days, and it was Monday before we started on the 
 second stage of our journey, now reinforced by Mr. 
 During, who had kindly come down from Golbanti, 
 to make all arrangements for our passage up. Our 
 course now was a retracing of our way on the sea. 
 Embarked in a heavy though not large vessel, and 
 having a good breeze, we sailed along charmingly 
 from eight o'clock till three, with little to interest us 
 beyond the pleasant rocking of the boat, and gazing 
 dreamily on the restless and ever-mysterious wide 
 waste of waters. Halfway on our journey we passed 
 close to a small island, and amused ourselves with 
 watching the angry waves which lashed themselves 
 into fury against the inoffensive rocks, sending up 
 dense clouds of spray, so delightful to behold that we
 
 A VISIT TO THE GALLA COUNTRY. 49 
 
 strained our eyes long after passing to see the last 
 of it. 
 
 At three o'clock we reached Kipini, another Swa- 
 hili town on the coast, and at the mouth of the River 
 Ozi, up which our course now lay. We found the 
 town in great excitement. All the soldiers and many 
 of the people were out on the beach firing guns, danc- 
 ing, singing, and shouting, to welcome home their 
 captain and governor, who had been on a visit to the 
 Sultan of Zanzibar. Kipini is very beautiful for 
 .situation. Opening on one side to the sandy shore 
 of the sea, with sand-hills just like those of Mable- 
 thorpe, in Lincolnshire stretching away for many 
 miles of coast, and on the other side to the wide 
 mouth of the Ozi, with a fine large beach, it would, if 
 in England, soon be a popular resort. The evening we 
 were there was the time of full moon. Mr. Wake- 
 field was so enchanted with a stroll on the beach that 
 he called me from our miserable hut, (where I had lain, 
 still weak from fever,) to share the pleasure of the 
 scene, and it certainly was delightful. Imagine us 
 standing on the level, sandy beach, the water gently 
 rippling at our feet, no sound but the distant hum of 
 insects, or the occasional splash of some fish in the 
 river, and the moon flooding the whole with a light 
 brighter than the brightest moonlight we know at 
 home, and say, should you not like to have been 
 there ? Before saying yes, remember also you would 
 have had to sleep in a mud hut, in a small room, with 
 no outlet but the door, and for a part of the night filled
 
 50 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 with smoke, which, however, was not nearly so dis- 
 agreeable as the mosquitoes, which would have bitten 
 and stung you all night long ; also that it was very hot, 
 and our house was surrounded by others like it, which 
 at once shut out the breeze from the river and sea, 
 and created unpleasant smells. 
 
 " We were heartily glad of morning, when we got 
 on board again, and very slowly made our way up the 
 River Ozi. For a long distance the river was very 
 wide, its edges on both sides lined with a thick belt of 
 jungle and forest, the natural home of the lion, 
 leopard, hyena, and other wild beasts. There were 
 many beautiful flowers to be seen, and birds of 
 gorgeous plumage skipping about, with monkeys and 
 squirrels enough to excite the attention of those 
 strange to such scenes. 
 
 " But what was most interesting was to watch the 
 hippopotami playing in the river. These large, ugly 
 beasts, living in the river during the daytime, forsake 
 it at night, to wander in the woods and fields in 
 search of food. And sad havoc they make amongst 
 the shambas of Indian corn or rice, if planted by the 
 natives anywhere near their haunts. This was the 
 first time I had seen them out of a cage, or in their 
 own home, and was all attention when the cry of their 
 appearance was raised. And they seemed to be quite 
 at home in this river. Before us sometimes, and 
 sometimes behind us, in a long line across the river 
 they played, quite close to our boat. Several shots 
 were fired at them, but whether to any purpose or
 
 HIPPOPOTAMI PLAYING IN THE RIVER.
 
 52 A VISIT TO THE GALL A COUNTRY. 
 
 not we could not tell, for, when killed, they sink for 
 several hours before rising again and floating on the 
 water. 
 
 "Thus p!easantly diverted, we sailed along till 
 nearly noon, when we arrived at Kau, another Swahili 
 town, like Kipini for its filth and wretchedness, but 
 having no such pleasant surroundings. There we 
 refreshed ourselves with a meal, after drinking coffee 
 with the elders, who, however, only received us coolly, 
 being greatly suspicious of our mission. Accordingly 
 we left about three o'clock, and made for the head of 
 the river, which we reached soon after sunset, with no 
 other incident than a start from a huge hippopotamus, 
 which charged our boat for some reason known only 
 to itself, making us think we had struck a rock, until 
 we saw him close to our side. 
 
 " At Bellezoni, where we were to leave the boat 
 and the Ozi, our troubles began in good earnest. 
 Of mosquitoes, it would be no exaggeration to say 
 there were millions, the tall rank grass, several feet 
 deep on each side of the river, favouring their 
 development. They came on us in clouds, almost 
 driving us mad. Mr. Wakefield and I determined to 
 leave the boat and pitch our iron bedstead in a field 
 adjoining. Our boys went and made two fires for us, 
 and we went ashore to assist in putting up our beds. 
 But, if anything, the mosquitoes were worse here. 
 We stood in the smoke until we were nearly blinded, 
 and almost leaped into the fire, but no matter ; as fast 
 as we scraped handfuls off our heads and faces others
 
 A VISIT TO THE GALL A COUNTRY. 53 
 
 were waiting to take their places. And what was, 
 if not so irritating, more alarming, a deep, loud growl 
 broke the stillness of the night, proceeding from a 
 lion not far away, So, as sleep was now out of the 
 question, and safety was worth a thought, we beat a 
 retreat to the boat again, where we huddled together 
 in great misery, waiting for the morning. Never 
 did I look to the East with such earnestness for the 
 first streak of morning light, and when, at the end 
 of that long night, the sun shot forth and put to 
 flight our fiendish enemies, it was like another world 
 to us." 
 
 After a number of other trying experiences, Messrs. 
 Wakefield and Houghton reached Golbanti, and Mr. 
 Houghton thus describes the mission station as he first 
 saw it at this time. "It is," he says, " close to the river 
 Tana, whichis perhaps thirty yards wide, of a brownish- 
 red colour, and flows on very swiftly as if anxious to take 
 its load of soil to the sea. At our station it bends 
 round and leaves quite a little harbour in the bend. 
 The station is on the left-hand side of the river going 
 up, and is surrounded by trees, some of them very 
 large, tall, and graceful. The mission-house is made 
 of iron sheets, and roofed with a thatch of palm leaves. 
 It has a verandah on two sides. The house is not 
 large, having only two rooms, both on the ground 
 floor. Near to it are kitchen, store-rooms, &c., and 
 the whole is inclosed in a strong stout fence of tree- 
 stumps, twelve feet high, making a circle perhaps 
 forty yards in diameter. There is also a small neat
 
 54 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI 
 
 chapel, built of thin poles, and plastered with mud ; it 
 is rudely furnished with a table and a few forms. The 
 land all round has been cleared of trees and bushes, 
 good wide roads are made, or being made, on and 
 about which are clustered the huts of people on the 
 station. 
 
 The country round is very flat, only one tiny 
 range of low hills to be seen in one direction ; every- 
 where else green fields, unbroken, stretch away as far 
 as the eye can see. There are several villages of 
 Gallas not far away, some of which we visited ; they 
 are not large settlements, just a few huts, which are 
 for all the world like bee-hives, and have only one 
 opening, through which the people creep in and out, 
 and which are constantly closed up by a kind of mat 
 suspended from within." 
 
 Of the people to whom he was now for the first 
 time introduced, he says : 
 
 " The Gallas themselves are a very different people 
 from those living on the coast, finer looking, with 
 features as regular as those of Europeans, and some 
 of them, the children especially, are really pretty. 
 The sole occupation of the people is the care of their 
 cows, which constitute their wealth and importance. 
 Both men and women are well dressed for savages ; 
 wearing a good long loin-cloth, fastened round the 
 waist with a strip of calico as belt, in which are placed 
 their knives, and other small arms, tools, &c. ; a large 
 piece of stout cloth, which is very gracefully thrown 
 over the shoulders, completes the outfit. They seem
 
 56 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 very fond of ornaments, the women especially being 
 quite laden with chains, rings, armlets, anklets, &c., 
 of different materials and value. Most of the orna- 
 ments of the men have a special significance. Only 
 after having attained a certain position in the tribe or 
 performed some valorous deed are they allowed to 
 wear them. Both men and women have nice long 
 curly hair on their heads, the women evidently be- 
 stowing great pains on its arrangement. They look 
 on themselves as superior people, and do not forget 
 to lord it over the other races about them, whom they 
 treat as inferiors in every way, and take their Indian 
 corn when it is ready, or whatever else in their pos- 
 session they fancy, without the least scruple." 
 
 This journey to Golbanti having fulfilled its present 
 purpose, Mr. Houghton and Mr. Wakefield returned 
 in safety to Jomvu, to the great joy of their friends.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 t!ja at 
 
 S the mission at Golbanti was not found to be 
 in a sufficiently advanced state to justify the 
 'i:~: immediate removal of Mr. and Mrs. Houghton 
 to that place, they volunteered to take charge 
 of the station at Ribe until the time for their 
 settlement among the Gallas should come, and accord- 
 ingly, in the month of April, 1885, they removed from 
 Jomvu to that place. Of the United Methodist 
 Free Churches mission stations in Eastern Africa 
 RibS is the oldest. Here Doctor Krapf and Messrs. 
 Wakefield, New, Butterworth, Yates, Seden, Martin, 
 Randall, Ramshaw, and other missionaries have 
 successively wrought and suffered in the glorious 
 cause ; and in the little cemetery on the left hand 
 of the mission-house, may be seen the graves of Mr. 
 Butterworth, Mr. New, Mr. Martin, and Mrs. Rebecca 
 Wakefield, besides those of many native Christians 
 who at this station found the Saviour, and, being faith- 
 ful unto death, were laid to rest among those from 
 whose lips they first heard the word of life. 
 
 The following peep at Ribe as it now is will be in- 
 teresting to those who are acquainted with the thrill- 
 
 ^ - "E :
 
 58 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 ing history of this East African mission station. 
 Writing home on May 5th, 1885, Mr. Houghton says : 
 " We are now settled down in a good six-roomed 
 house with a very large garden. We have only a 
 foot-path winding up hill and down, and crossing the 
 rivers, so that we are quite by ourselves. We have 
 some very beautiful flowers all around us, the sight of 
 which would do you all good. We have, too, the 
 prettiest little chapel in East Africa, and a number of 
 excellent rooms for joiner's shop, stores, &c. We are 
 very comfortable, and should like you to see our house 
 with its pictures (minus frames), antimacassars, &c., 
 and piano. The piano was the first Mrs. Wakefield's, 
 but the rats have eaten the inside away. We have 
 varnished it and made a pretty piece of furniture of 
 it, on which we put our musical box, which plays 
 ' Grandfather's Clock,' to the no small amusement of 
 our black friends. A couple of days after we got 
 here Bishop Hannington came to see us. Ribe is as 
 bonny a place as you would wish to see. It is on a 
 hill, and from our front verandah we look across what 
 the bishop says is the finest bit of English park-like 
 scenery he has beheld in Africa. It is open right to 
 the sea, and it is possible to see ships near the coast, 
 as they sail along. There are not many people here, 
 for the famine of last year has decimated the inland 
 countries for hundreds of miles. We hope for better 
 things with this year's harvest." 
 
 Mrs. Houghton, writing on June 8th, also 
 gives us a pleasant glimpse of the same interest-
 
 NINE MONTHS AT RIBE. 
 
 59 
 
 NATIVE CHRISTIANS, EAST AFRICA. 
 
 ing spot. She says : " We are getting more accus- 
 tomed to the work and people every day. I have 
 been busy for the last month sewing for the people, 
 and Mr. Houghton has been busy getting the chapel 
 beautified. His occupations are rather miscellaneous. 
 He is joiner, painter, farmer, law-giver, judge and 
 arbitrator, and I know not what beside. After ser- 
 vice every morning many of the natives pass our 
 house, and they always stop to say, ' Yambo, Bibi/ 
 
 2
 
 60 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 < Yambo, Bwana/ meaning, ' How do you do.' I am 
 the ' Bibi,' and Mr. Houghton is the ' Bwana.' The 
 other day we went to look at the sJiambas. The 
 Indian corn, rice, &c., was in good condition, and if 
 the monkeys will only keep their distance, I think the 
 natives will do well. They have to keep a constant 
 watch in their shambas, or most of the grain would 
 be eaten by one kind of animal or another. 
 
 " People get married here as elsewhere. Our 
 cook was married the other evening. The ceremony 
 was performed by Mr. Houghton at our house. People 
 can be married at any time and place here ; but a 
 man has to buy his wife in this country. He pays 
 some dollars to her parents. I think this is too bad, 
 when many in England don't get off without money 
 and without price." 
 
 On June 3Oth, 1885, Mrs. Houghton writes: "We 
 have had for the last few weeks very heavy rains. 
 You would think, to hear it, everything would be 
 washed away. It is very unhealthy for the natives. 
 Many of them have been suffering from bad colds, 
 and other complaints, and we have to be the doctors. 
 Last week we had a break in the monotony of our 
 lives. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, from Jomvu, paid us a 
 visit, and stayed with us two or three days. To see 
 two white faces seemed almost as strange to us as two 
 black ones would seem to you. We enjoyed the 
 change very much." 
 
 Mr. Hojghton, under date of July 6th, 1885, says : 
 " It is not possible to give you an idea of our intense
 
 NINE MONTHS A7 RIBE. 61 
 
 excitement as the time of the mail draws near. What 
 blessings are upon the man's head who brings it, and 
 how we spread all out on the table, sit down, con over 
 the outsides, ' This is from so and so, that from here 
 or there ' like a cat playing with a sweet morsel of a 
 mouse before devouring it. And don't we devour 
 them, oblivious of all things for an hour ! We can 
 hear nothing and see nothing else for that time. 
 ' Hodi' (May I come in ?) says some one at the door, 
 as they enter. We never hear it, or if we do, it only 
 elicits, ' Hakana Hodi ! ' (There is no hodi.) All that 
 day we live again in scenes of home and friends of 
 old. And then the papers are of invaluable interest 
 to us, for which we bless you seven times seven times 
 every month. 
 
 " The weather continues the same. Rain, rain, rain, 
 day after day, in volume and intensity enough, one 
 would think, to float another ark. It is fortunate for 
 us we are on a hill, or otherwise we might be washed 
 away. It is quite cool too : no sweating now without 
 work, and in the evening it is quite cold. We in- 
 tend to make a change to-morrow, and, if tolerably 
 fine, go to Jomvu for a day or two. Our chief 
 concern now is to learn the language, in which we 
 have made some little progress. You would be quite 
 interested to hear Mrs. Houghton shoot out her 
 Kiswahili to the boys. In time she will be quite 
 proficient. She has also developed a genius for doc- 
 toring, and makes up prescriptions in the most 
 matter of fact way, as if to the manner born. The
 
 62 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 poor people cannot stand this rain and cold, and so 
 shiver in it like some old half-clad beggar at Christ- 
 mas. We keep fairly well. The climate now is not 
 unlike May or June at home, and is in nowise trying 
 to us." 
 
 On August 27th, Mrs. Houghton says: "The weather 
 here at present is much like June at home, and as we 
 are not having so much rain as we had a few weeks 
 ago, it is very enjoyable, though the sun here is always 
 more powerful than in England. Our people have 
 had a good harvest, and now have plenty of food, 
 which they do not spare when meal times come round. 
 I have made clothes for many of the natives, and still 
 am making more. I have been making garments for 
 the girls that attend my sewing class. They are a 
 kind of long, round pinafore with a waistband, and 
 trimmed with coloured print, the other part being of 
 grey calico. The girls came to our house this after- 
 noon and put on their new dresses and arranged their 
 toilet on our verandah. They went away in proces- 
 sion, and Mr. Houghton said they looked very nice. 
 By the last mail we received from some of our York- 
 shire friends a parcel of clothes, some for the native 
 children, and some beautiful presents for myself. I 
 was not a little pleased with such an act of kind- 
 ness." 
 
 Mr. Houghton, writing on September 25th, says : 
 "We have been here now just five months. The 
 mission had suffered greatly from the absence of a 
 European or responsible agent, and from the famir
 
 NINE MONTHS AT RIBE. 63 
 
 There were few people here, the chapel was almost 
 deserted, and it seemed as though the work of years 
 had been almost thrown away. I am very glad to be 
 able to report that there are signs of progress now. 
 The famine having disappeared many have returned 
 to their own homes, and are greatly improved in 
 appearance. Lean, lank, miserable beings have be- 
 come full-bodied and healthy. 
 
 "The chapel, which has been freshened up with 
 paint and whitewash, presents a very different appear- 
 ance at the time of service to that when first we came. 
 We now have it well filled every Sunday three times, 
 and the morning prayers every day are likewise well 
 attended. The people, who were almost naked, have 
 kept Mrs. Houghton working hard the last four 
 months to clothe them, and look now quite respect- 
 able. The day school has been recommenced, and is 
 making progress. We have a few very sharp and promis- 
 ing scholars, and as children are our great hope here, 
 this is encouraging. 
 
 " We are greatly hampered in the school for want 
 of all educational apparatus. All that we possess are 
 a few broken slates and a few copy-books, with the 
 first two books for learning the alphabet and simple 
 Kiswahili words printed at Jomvu. There are no 
 blackboards, no maps, no counters, or any of the in- 
 dispensable helps to a moderately complete teaching 
 of the children. It is unfortunate that the mission 
 fund is in such a condition one dare scarcely ask for 
 such things. If the zeal of our educational friends
 
 64 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 would only extend to East Africa, and fit up all our 
 missions with stock of apparatus, they would greatly 
 benefit the -cause. Mrs. Houghton, who has a 
 good supply of needles and cotton, gets on better 
 with the sewing class, and many of the women and 
 children are becoming quite clever in the art of 
 sewing. 
 
 " We make some little progress in the language, 
 and I have ventured a few times to explain a passage 
 of Scripture at morning prayers ; it will be a glad 
 day when the language is so mastered as to enable me 
 to speak freely to the people. 
 
 " There was once a preaching-place in the stock- 
 aded town of Ribe not far away, and as it is now well 
 peopled the recommencement of that must be a pro- 
 ject of the future. Just now I am sorry to say small- 
 pox is raging there, and numbers of the people have 
 already died. 
 
 " We are ourselves very well just now in health. 
 Mrs. Houghton, who has been since the first fortnight 
 after coming here of very uncertain health, is now 
 regaining strength and vigour." 
 
 Writing on the same date, Mrs. Houghton says : 
 ** A woman brought her child to our house yesterday 
 to be baptized. It was only two days old. This is a 
 common occurrence here. We have to find names for 
 the children, and these must of course be English 
 ones. They can easily pronounce anything that ends 
 with a vowel : so we named this child Harry. It was 
 a nice baby though black.
 
 NINE MONTHS A T RIBE. 65 
 
 " Our hot season has commenced; and we can have 
 a Turkish bath without any exertion whatever. The 
 country is now looking beautiful. Many of the trees 
 are laden with fruit ; and flowers and vegetables too 
 are plentiful at present. We have oranges and lemons 
 growing close to the door. We have lemon-water 
 every day, and find it most refreshing in this sunny 
 land. The oranges are as yet untasted, yet we are 
 told they are better than the lemons. There is a fruit 
 called mapem, which is delicious stewed. 
 
 " The consul paid us a visit the other day. He 
 seemed to be a nice, kind gentleman. A few days 
 ago he sent us a large basket of oranges from Zanzibar. 
 They are more juicy and sweet than English oranges. 
 May his shadow never grow less. 
 
 " We now feel more at home with our work here. 
 Mr. Houghton speaks to the people in the chapel, and 
 they are very much pleased, and say to John Mgomba, 
 Ask Bwana to speak to us again.' Mgomba is 
 foreman over the natives, and our curate. He is a 
 good Christian man ; one that we can rely upon, and 
 such men are scarce here." 
 
 On October 3oth, Mr. Houghton says : " We were 
 startled one night last week by the arrival of a bevy 
 of soldiers, come as a deputation from a rebel chief. 
 They were very gracious and obsequious, but, muster- 
 ing on our verandah just as we were making ready for 
 bed, armed with rifles, swords, and belts full of daggers 
 and pistols, it looked like an unlovely business. Still 
 they left us on the following day."
 
 66 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 Under date of November we have two jottings 
 from the pen of Mrs. Houghton, as follows : 
 
 "Nov. 2ist, 1885. It is Saturday afternoon, I 
 wish you could all come and have tea with us. I 
 daresay you wonder where I should put you all, but 
 we have plenty of room, and our table, if not an oval 
 one, is a good square, and one of the large sizes. We 
 are getting along pretty well. John Mgomba told us 
 the other day that the people said Bwana said good 
 things to them every day, and that we were good 
 to them, and that they would give some pice to the 
 mission. This was a little encouragement ; so we 
 trust our efforts will not be in vain." 
 
 " Nov. 23rd. By the last mail we had a box of 
 provisions from England. Mr. Houghton went down 
 to Mombasa to sign for them, and could not return 
 the same day. During his absence I had rather a 
 lively time of it. The siafu swarmed into the house. 
 They are black, biting ants, and can only be destroyed 
 by fire. The boys set to work, and in a little more 
 than an hour drove them away and destroyed them. 
 A few days ago a long green snake was caught just 
 outside the door. This is the third since we came 
 here, but the others had got into the house. We have, 
 too, many bees that build up and down the house : 
 we keep knocking them down, or we should have the 
 house full of young bees. We have rats, too, occa- 
 sionally, but now we have two very good traps they 
 are sensible, and keep their distance. So we have 
 plenty of company. However, these things never
 
 NINE MONTHS A T RIBE. 67 
 
 AFRICAN FOREST SCENE. 
 
 hurt us if we don't hurt them. Our house looks very 
 cosy : Mr. Houghton has just made me a very nice 
 cupboard, which is quite a setting off to our establish- 
 ment, as well as a luxury, for such things are scarce 
 here. 
 
 " It is now summer with us. The country looks 
 beautiful and everything is rich and full. The trees 
 are laden with fruits and flowers. As I sit writing
 
 68 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 I have only to look through the window to see 
 oranges, lemons, cocoa-nuts, mangoes, and other 
 things growing, but we cannot live upon these alto- 
 gether, so we find our home provisions a real treat, 
 and much cheaper than we can get them at Zanzibar." 
 
 In December, 1885, Mr. Houghton paid a visit to 
 Zanzibar, 120 miles to the south of Mombasa, that he 
 might obtain the assistance and protection of the 
 British agent in his preparations for the establish- 
 ment of the Galla mission, to which he was soon to 
 remove. On December i/th, he writes as follows : 
 
 " I have come down to Zanzibar in the Church 
 Mission boat to see Sir John Kirk, consul-general 
 here, about our new mission. Some time ago he 
 advised that we should wait a little, until this German 
 scare was over, before going up to Golbanti. There 
 is now sitting in Zanzibar an International Conven- 
 tion to define the Sultan's borders, and after that the 
 Germans will most likely become reasonable. Sir 
 John, in the meantime, has promised to forward me 
 all he can by procuring letters from the Sultan, and 
 by giving me one himself. So by the next mail Mrs. 
 Houghton and I shall go up and possess the land ; 
 not perhaps without a little fear and trembling, but 
 full of hope and faith. We shall be very sorry to 
 leave Ribe, for the place and the people have now 
 great interest for us. We are all very well, and shall 
 be ready for working hard at our several stations 
 when settled down. 
 
 " Zanzibar is a fine town from the sea. The island
 
 NINE MON-THS A T RIBE. 69 
 
 is crescent-shaped, and has at this end a large number 
 of substantial stone houses, which are imposing seen 
 from the sea. There are nearly a score of large 
 steamers in the harbour, besides many small craft 
 There are broad, macadamised roads here ; horses, 
 carriages, electric lighting, policemen, soldiers, and 
 bands of music. It is European-like above every 
 other town on the coast. There are English, Ger- 
 mans, French, Hindis, Banyans, Goanese," Arabs, and 
 Swahilis, with a mixed crowd of all sorts of slaves and 
 freed slaves. I don't care for it at all, and shall be 
 glad to escape from its artificial civilisation to the 
 unsophisticated regions of nature." 
 
 The last letter written from Ribe is dated January 
 2nd, 1886, and is by Mr. Houghton. He says : " There 
 has not been much change with us since we wrote last. 
 As at home one day succeeds another, with plenty of 
 work when we can do it, and but little variety. We 
 had a Christmas festival here, and a great day it was 
 for all the people. It is the custom for the mission to 
 give a feast on that day, and here we had a most 
 pleasant one. We had an ox killed, and bought a 
 large quantity of rice, and all the people were engaged 
 in cooking it. When ready it was put in large 
 bowls with pieces of meat laid on the top, and they 
 all squatted round them on the ground in groups of 
 from twelve to twenty, and with knives, forks, and 
 spoons (of the Adam brand) they attacked it in good 
 earnest, and as they do not often get meat or rice, 
 they made short work of it. All were filled, and with

 
 NINE MONTHS AT RIBE. 71 
 
 fresh, shining faces looked as happy as man can look. 
 Mrs. Houghton worked very hard for many days and 
 nights before Christmas, making our school children 
 new clothes, and most delighted they were with them, 
 and they looked quite smart and nice. Some friend 
 of the mission had also sent out some toys, so the 
 young folks were blowing trumpets, playing tops, 
 dragging engines, using skipping ropes, playing ball, 
 &c. Mrs. Houghton taught them to skip, and most 
 heartily they laughed when they saw her jump, and 
 especially when the ' pepper ' came. The women also 
 danced their native dances, and no accomplished 
 dandy could have performed their varying evolutions 
 with so much grace. The men also had their turn, 
 and were equally full of grace in their dances, which 
 are really dignified, and an improvement on the rough 
 romps and caperings of our home sports. All these 
 people are perfect in the arts of gesture, and are born 
 orators. So on our station the good-will to men found 
 an expression on that day on which we all so much 
 rejoice." 
 
 Alluding to the approaching departure for Gol- 
 banti, he continues : " We are going to Golbanti by 
 this mail. We are very sorry to leave Rib& ; but our 
 duty calls us hence, and hence we go. We are upset 
 with packing, and I have only just recovered from a 
 fever."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 to d>0ilratttj. 
 
 'HE time came at last, on January i/th, 1886, 
 when Mr. and Mrs. Houghton had to say 
 " Farewell " to the dear Christian natives at 
 Ribe, and to leave that spot so rich in sad 
 and joyous events in the history of our East 
 African mission, and leave it never as it proved to 
 see it again. How ill Mrs. Houghton was during the 
 sea-voyage from Mombasa ; how trying her experi- 
 ence was on the coast, and how greatly she suffered 
 from the presence of rats, beetles, cats, dogs, and from 
 the bites of mosquitoes on the river journey, will best 
 be told in her own words. She says, in a letter to a 
 friend, " We left Ribe on January i/th, and walked to 
 Jomvu, a distance of about eight miles. I preferred 
 this to riding, the donkey and I not being on very 
 good terms. Our goods were packed in boxes, and 
 carried by the natives to Jomvu, and then put into a 
 dhow and taken to Mombasa. We stayed one day 
 with Mrs. and Mr. Wakefield. Early the following 
 morning we left for Mombasa, and sailed in the mail 
 steamer to Lamu, and arrived there early the next 
 morning. I was sick nearly all the way, so I did not 
 enjoy the short voyage very much. Sir John Kirk,
 
 REMOVAL TO GOLBANTL 73 
 
 the political agent at Zanzibar, was on board, and 
 gave us a note of introduction to the governor of 
 Lamu, whom we went to see before leaving the town. 
 He was pleased to see us, and gave us a note to give 
 to the different governors we should meet with on 
 the way. These Swahili men are afraid of the Ger- 
 mans coming into the country, so the note given to us 
 was a kind of pass. After we had had the usual cups 
 of coffee and glasses of sherbet, always given to visi- 
 tors at such places, I was asked to go and see the 
 chiefs wives. They were glad to see me, for they are 
 never allowed out of doors. My dress they examined 
 very minutely, and asked to see my watch. With 
 this article they were delighted, and exclaimed, 
 ' Ngema!' (good). They gazed at me as though they 
 thought I was a queer sort of individual, and I 
 thought them just as queer. I was now at liberty to 
 leave, and not sorry to get outside. We left Lamu as 
 soon as we could, for it is like all other Swahili towns, 
 dirty, and the houses are built anywhere, without 
 either plan or style. After staying one day our 
 baggage was ready, and we left in a native dhow for 
 Kipini. I was again sick and glad to lie at the bottom 
 of the boat until we reached Kipini, which we did 
 about half-past five in the evening. The news soon 
 spread that a white woman was on the beach. I sat 
 there a short time waiting for a few articles being 
 brought from the boat that we might want for the 
 night. In a few minutes I was surrounded by men,, 
 women, and children from the village. I could
 
 REMOVAL TO GOLBANT1 75 
 
 scarcely breathe until Ulide, one of the mission ser- 
 vants, made them disperse. Many of these people had 
 not seen a white woman before, for I was the first 
 that had been there in fact, the only one that has 
 been in this part of Africa at all. So the whole of the 
 journey I came in for a good share of wonderment. 
 Here we had to stay all night in a native hut. Sleep 
 was out of the question, for there were rats, beetles 
 (large sizes), fowls, cats, dogs, and I know not 
 what. We lay on our long chairs as near the door 
 as possible. At daybreak we were outside, glad to 
 get a little fresh air ; nevertheless, we ate a hearty 
 breakfast in the open air the only proper meal we 
 had on the journey. The governor of this place came 
 to see us shortly after we arrived, and was glad to 
 learn we were English, and not Germans. He was 
 very kind to us made us a present of a sheep and 
 some vegetables. We returned the visit, and of 
 course his wives wished to see me too. I went to see 
 the poor things, and again I had to pass the same 
 examination as at Lamu. We then left for Kipini ; 
 the morning was bright and sunny, and we walked 
 about a mile along a nice sandy beach, where our 
 boat had been anchored for the night. We sailed up 
 the River Ozi until we came to Kau. Here we met 
 Mr. During, an educated West African native engaged 
 in mission work. He had come to see after our lug- 
 gage. The people at this place were very anxious I 
 should go ashore, saying if I would they would fire 
 their guns. I didn't care about it, and so remained 
 
 F 2
 
 76 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 HINDI LADY, EAST AFRICA. 
 
 in the boat until Mr. Houghton returned from seeing 
 the governor. I did not want to spend another night 
 in a native hut, so we sailed on until the tide was 
 spent, then anchored for the night, not to sleep, for 
 the mosquitoes swarmed. For protection we wrapped 
 ourselves in shawls, so, in addition to the biting, we 
 had a Turkish bath. About one o'clock we had the 
 tide again with us, and sailed on to Bellezoni. It
 
 REMOVAL TO GOLBANTI. 77 
 
 was now daylight, and we thought the mosquitoes 
 would forsake us ; but they had got good bait and 
 could not see the fun. Here we changed our boat 
 for small canoes, and sailed through the dyke that 
 connects the Ozi with the Tana. It is only three or 
 four yards wide, with thick, high grass growing on 
 each side, a harbouring-place for the above-named 
 insects. We were over an hour and a half going 
 through. The agony we endured I shall never forget. 
 Our faces were disfigured. We had additional 
 bumps ; they, too, were fully developed, so you may 
 know we got well bitten. We got into the River 
 Tana at last, and for a few hours sailed on in peace. 
 There are a few native houses here and there by the 
 river-side. At one of these we stayed a little time 
 to rest. To sail a short distance in one of these 
 canoes is not unpleasant ; but to go a long distance 
 you get cramped. Having to sit at the bottom and 
 not able to turn at all, we have scarcely fair play. 
 Feeling rested a little we started again, and in about 
 two hours came to another hut, where we had to stay 
 for the night, for it was nearly six o'clock the time 
 our enemies made their appearance. After a cup 
 of cocoa we tried to settle for the night. The mos- 
 quitoes came in thousands, just to show us they 
 had no ill-feeling, I suppose. Altogether we had 
 quite a performance, cats running after rats, dogs 
 running after cats, fowls and goats, and a wood 
 fire burning to smoke out our friends. We had 
 rather a livelv time of it. Morning dawned at last,
 
 78 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 and after a wash at the river side we ate a scanty 
 breakfast, and then left for Golbanti, arriving about 
 three in the afternoon." 
 
 Mr. Houghton's account of the same journey must 
 not be omitted. Writing on February 9th, he says : 
 "We have had another experience in our African 
 
 
 AN AFRICAN RIVER. 
 
 life, namely, the journey up to Golbanti, where we 
 now are. We left Ribe not without some regret on 
 January i/th. It was hard work to get all our effects, 
 personal and household, carried to Jomvu, as all had 
 to be conveyed on the heads of our people. It is 
 well for us that they are very hard. After a lot of 
 bustle we got all away and shipped on to a dhow on the
 
 REMOVAL TO GOLBANTI. 79 
 
 creek at Jomvu, and then followed ourselves. Mrs. 
 Houghton performed the journey from Ribe to Jomvu 
 on foot, a feat now twice performed by no other lady 
 in this country. We were at Jomvu only one day, 
 and then went on to the mail at Mombasa, from 
 whence we came on direct to Lamu, a sail of some- 
 thing less than twenty-four hours. At Lamu a dhow 
 came to take all our things. We went ashore in a 
 ship's boat, and went to our own house in the town 
 A Swahili town is different from an English one. It 
 is commonly inhabited by a mixture of Hindis, Arabs, 
 Swahili traders, and slaves, the latter always forming 
 the bulk of the population. The better class people 
 have stone houses with many rooms, dark and gloomy. 
 All have flat roofs, and are built anywhere, without 
 any plan. A map of Lamu would be a good plan 
 for a maze. We did not stay long at Lamu. Sir 
 John Kirk, who came up from Zanzibar in the mail, 
 gave us an introduction to the governor, and we 
 waited upon him the day after our arrival. Accord- 
 ing to custom we had cups of coffee and sherbet. 
 Mrs. Houghton went to see his wives, who were 
 delighted to see a visitor, as they are kept like 
 prisoners in the inner rooms of the house. The 
 governor gave us a letter to all the Swahilis on our 
 way here, to render us all help and honour us as 
 we were his friends and those of the Sultan. This 
 was a great help to us, as the Gemans, whom Swahilis 
 dislike, have passed up the country, sometimes by 
 representing themselves as English, and have thereby
 
 8o THE MARTYRS- OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 made it hard for Englishmen to pass without some 
 other warrant than their own word. 
 
 " From Lamu we went in a large native boat 
 by sea for six or seven hours to a smaller town 
 of Swahilis, called Kipini. Here Mrs. Houghton 
 came in for a large share of wonderment. As we sat 
 on the beach waiting for the transport of our things, 
 more than a hundred people closed round us, to look 
 principally at the first white woman who had visited 
 them; We slept, or rather lay, in our long chairs in 
 a native hut, dark as a tomb. The mosquitoes were 
 numerous, and we had to bury ourselves in blankets for 
 protection, preferring a Turkish bath to being devoured. 
 
 " In the morning we got a little wash and a 
 hearty breakfast, the only good meal on the journey. 
 The governor of Kipini was very kind to us, and sent 
 us a sheep, vegetables, bananas, and green cocoanuts, 
 full of the milky juice so refreshing in this country. 
 He also drove the people from us, and sent us a soldier 
 at night to see that all was quiet. 
 
 " We left again as soon as the tide was favourable, 
 and made our way up the River Ozi, and in a while we 
 saw the hippopotami popping up their huge heads in 
 the water and blowing it up in pretty fountains. We 
 sailed on till night, passing in the afternoon another 
 town, named Kau, and taking up Mr. During, who 
 had come down from Golbanti after our luggage. 
 
 " At night, when the tide was out, and there was 
 no wind, we anchored in the river, not to sleep, but to 
 do our best to fortify our bodies from swarms of
 
 REMOVAL TO GOLBANTI. 81 
 
 mosquitoes. We passed a miserable night, broken 
 by a morning that brought no little relief. About 
 eight our boat had come as far as it could, and we 
 left it to enter the canoe used on the River Tana. 
 We were now to pass through the dyke connecting 
 the Ozi and the Tana, and for misery, nothing can 
 equal the hour and a half we endured in the passage. 
 This dyke is three yards wide, and as crooked as 
 crooked can be. No piece of water can have more 
 turnings in it than this has. We were pushed from 
 side to side, and clouds of mosquitoes flew about us 
 and settled on our faces : and this in a blazing sun, 
 and we unable to stir ourselves an inch. However, 
 all things end, and this did. We got into the broad 
 Tana, and went on in peace again till five o'clock, 
 with just a short stay on the way. 
 
 " We then stayed all night at another house, where 
 were dogs, cats, cocks, hens, goats, rats, mosquitoes, 
 men, women, children, fire, smoke, &c., &c., and 
 at the last point of endurance, morning came, and we 
 were off again up the river to Golbanti, where we 
 arrived at three o'clock. Here we got our bed up, 
 and after food went to bed and slept the sleep of the 
 just. A bath, food, and rest, set us square again in a 
 day or two, when we moved from the old iron house to 
 a new one Mr. During has had put up for us. This is a 
 bad time of the year for mosquitoes. We can only rid 
 ourselves of them by sitting in smoke night and morn- 
 ing, and as we don't relish this, we goto bed, and read or 
 sew or mend stockings behind the mosquito netting."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 life in tlje tS&ltonwHa. 
 
 R. and Mrs. Houghton had now reached 
 the spot which was to be their last earthly 
 home, and from which, in a few short 
 months, their consecrated spirits were to 
 rise from earth to receive the reward of 
 those who are found faithful unto death in the service 
 of Christ. Everything connected with Golbanti 
 becomes therefore of the greatest interest to us. For- 
 tunately for the reader Mr. Houghton has given, in a 
 letter to a friend, an almost photographic picture of 
 their new home and its surroundings after they had 
 become comfortably settled there. It is as follows : 
 
 " Imagine yourself stepping out of a rude canoe 
 on to the banks of a wide river here at Golbanti. The 
 first thing you would notice would be the tall, rank 
 grass, many yards deep, on the river side. In a short 
 time, walking through it in a path just wide enough 
 for one, you would come to some low native huts, 
 thatched with grass, and plastered with mud. The 
 Gallas themselves are usually clothed well, wearing a 
 good long loin-cloth, and a large cloth thrown over 
 their shoulders. Their features are as regular as those 
 of Europeans. They have nothing at all of the thick 
 lip and protruding jaw of the genuine negro. As 
 you notice these things you come to a plantation of
 
 LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS. 83 
 
 Indian corn, and to good and wide roads, one of which 
 leads you up to a whitewashed house fenced a long 
 way round with stout, tall stumps of trees, at once to- 
 keep inside the poultry, and to be a protection in any 
 emergency. The house itself is built of iron sheets, 
 and is one storey high, having a verandah on two 
 sides. That is the old mission-house. We do not 
 live there, it being by far too hot. We now come out 
 of the enclosure, and follow the road for nearly half a 
 mile, seeing a forest of trees on one side of us just 
 beyond the Indian corn plantation, and on the other 
 the grass which is by the river side. Before you get 
 to it you can see another white house and another 
 tall fence. Entering by the gate you notice that, like the 
 native houses, it is thatched with grass, is raised from 
 the ground, and has good wide verandahs. It is built 
 of sticks as a framework, and plastered outside and 
 inside with mud, and then coated with lime. Entering 
 by the front double doors you would find yourself in 
 a room about five yards square, the floor covered with 
 matting, and the walls nicely whitewashed. In the 
 middle of the room is a round table, and against the 
 middle of the wall on the right hand side a cupboard 
 [made by Mr. Houghton himself]. On one side of it 
 is a little table for our small filter, knife-box, &c., and 
 on the other side is placed my table with desk, &c. 
 On the left hand side of the room is an iron chair- 
 sofa, and soon there will be shelves with our books on 
 them. There is a door opposite the one you entered 
 by, and behind it, in the left hand corner, is a window,
 
 84 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 or window hole, and beneath the window we have a 
 long cane lounge chair. We have four other chairs, 
 good strong ones, in this room. A clock, a small mirror, 
 and some pictures fill in the list of furniture. The 
 bedroom door is on the left hand side, and the bed is 
 hung with mosquito curtains. This room has two 
 windows in, two or three boxes, a set of drawers, a 
 dressing table, and a large medicine chest. Now you 
 come out of the house again and go along on the 
 front verandah and enter the other room on your 
 right. This is the same size as the bedroom and has 
 two tables in it. Here we keep our stores, and various 
 other things, and we also use it as a bathroom. So 
 much for the house. We have not made a garden 
 yet, but I have laid it all out in my mind. All the 
 place was a forest two years ago, and this has been 
 cut down as far as our house, so on one side we are 
 quite bordered by it, and from it, quite close to us, 
 come the monkeys and squirrels affording us amuse- 
 ment sometimes by their gambols. W T e have a nice 
 open view to the river, though it is not very distant. 
 The climate is rather warm here. While I am writing 
 this it is 92 degrees in the house, notwithstanding our 
 wide verandahs, and grass-roof and covering of white 
 calico inside, and it makes us wish for some of that 
 cold weather you talk about. 
 
 " We have no proper chapel yet, our present one 
 being like the native houses, only a trifle larger. I 
 am just going to build one in the same manner as our 
 house is built, for we cannot get any stone here, as we
 
 86 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 could at Jomvu and Ribe. The country is flat and 
 the soil sandy. My chief work now is to learn the 
 Galla language, which is as different from Kiswahili 
 as English is. When I can talk again, and we have a 
 nice chapel, I shall be happy once more." 
 
 Mrs. Houghton also says of Golbanti, " It is very 
 lonely here. The place where our house and station 
 are was two years ago a forest, and some of it still 
 remains. Our house is just at the entrance. The 
 view is rather pretty, but not very extensive. There 
 are no trees, fruits, and flowers like those at Ribe. 
 We miss them very much, and we were sorry to leave 
 Ribe. We had got to know the people, and Mr. 
 Houghton could preach to them. Now we have the 
 Galla language to learn. We shall have plenty of 
 work here, many of the Gallas being pure heathens. I 
 trust we ma> have strength and patience given us to do 
 it faithfully and well. So far they have been rather 
 troublesome. They are very idle, and seem to have an 
 idea they ought not to work. However, I think they 
 are beginning to understand things a little better now." 
 
 Of the dwelling-house and chapel she says, 
 "Our house is built of mud and sticks, mud floor, 
 three rooms on the level, whitewashed inside and out- 
 side. It looks very much like the cottages you some- 
 times meet with in the country at home, with a card 
 in the window, ' Hot water for tea.' Nevertheless, if 
 you were to pop in now I don't think you would say 
 it looked at all uncomfortable, but the reverse. The 
 chapel is a rude building, with mud floor and walls,
 
 LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS. 87 
 
 three small windows, two doors, forms all round and 
 in the centre, and a table and chair at one end for the 
 preacher. We shall have a new chapel at our earliest 
 convenience." 
 
 Further glimpses of the chequered and busy life 
 of these brave missionaries are given to us in letters 
 written on March 3ist Mrs. Houghton writes : "We 
 are now getting more used to the place and people, 
 but it will be a work of time and patience to change 
 many of these people from their old customs. We 
 are now building a new chapel, for the old one is 
 scarcely fit to go into. Of course it was poorly put 
 up, as a temporary affair. When the new one is 
 finished we hope for better times. Mr. During is now 
 at Ribe. Mr. Houghton is the first European mission- 
 ary, and myself the first white woman of any descrip- 
 tion that has been here ; so we are quite isolated- 
 Many of the men think Mr. Houghton a great man 
 and, to show you their ignorance, what do you think 
 they say ? They say he is equal with God. Of course 
 he tells them differently, and we trust ere long that 
 light may dawn on their dark minds. We have com- 
 pany enough of the animal kind. Monkeys and 
 squirrels come quite near the door early in the 
 morning. The other night we were rather startled by 
 a squirrel getting into the house. As the mosquitoes 
 are so numerous we did not get up ; so it was faring 
 sumptuously all night at the good things of the house." 
 
 Mr. Houghton adds, " You will see from this that 
 I am come down or rather up to be a builder. I have
 
 88 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 made an oven this month, an achievement of which I 
 am as proud as of the best sermon I ever made, for 
 we have only stones as large as small apples, and all 
 corners. It answers too, and our bread and Yorkshire 
 puddings are well just a shade below the best 
 perhaps, but no more. I am sorry Mrs. Houghton 
 has harder- work to do here, because it is hotter, and 
 you may think it is no joke to stand over hot irons. 
 There is no fever here ; at least we have been free so far- 
 Our health is first-rate, everything considered, though 
 we should be glad to feel a little cold sometimes." 
 
 Again Mrs, Houghton writes : 
 
 " We do not like Golbanti so well as Ribe. 
 Many of the people are pure heathens and are very 
 superstitious. It is hard work to drive anything into 
 them. Only the other morning a man brought some 
 milk to sell. I wanted him to take our jug, and let 
 me have it in the same every morning ; but he thought 
 if he did so the cow would give no milk. The vessels 
 they use are washed with charcoal, and the milk tastes 
 of it very strongly. We have not been able to get 
 milk before, and cannot get much now, so it would be 
 a treat if we could get it all right. Our house and 
 chapel are not nearly so nice as at Ribe, nor can we 
 expect it for a new station. The country is flat, and 
 the view rather pretty, but not very extensive. We 
 are not very far from the river, from which we get our 
 water. I am glad to say it is nice and soft, for we 
 have no " Dobie " here to wash our clothes. I have a 
 native woman come every Tuesday to wash, though
 
 LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS. 89 
 
 I have very nearly to do them myself. There is one 
 good thing ; they dry in about an hour. It is very hot 
 here, warmer than either Jomvu or Rib6, though we 
 get a good breeze ; so it is just endurable in the house. 
 At mid-day we do not go out if we can avoid it. Mos- 
 quitoes are still numerous, and we are obliged to 
 retire at six o'clock every night, and glad to get in 
 behind the netting with which our bed is hung as a 
 protection against these troublesome insects. You 
 would be amused if you saw it sometimes covered 
 with sewing, books, pencil and paper, &c., all to pass 
 away the night. Mosquitoes are never wanting here, 
 though this is a bad time for them." 
 
 The Rev. W. H. During, having assisted the newly 
 arrived missionaries to become settled in their new 
 residence, and introduced them to the natives and to 
 their work, had, as one of the letters has informed us 
 returned to Ribe. They were not, however, absolutely 
 alone so far as the presence of at least native Christ- 
 ians was concerned. When Mr. During had left 
 Jomvu two years and a quarter before this, several 
 Christianized Gallas had volunteered to go with him 
 to assist in the evangelization of their countrymen. 
 Of these the most hopeful and interesting were Aba 
 Shora, with Balafo, his wife, and their son Arthur 
 Huko, and his wife, with Shakala, Dida, Kurte and 
 some others. Aba Shora was one of the earliest of 
 the Gallas who came to settle at Ribe many years 
 ago, and he had for a long time been known at Rib 
 and Jomvu as a truly Christian man, a bright illustra- 
 
 G
 
 90 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 tion of the triumph of Christianity over heathenism. 
 His wife Jane Balafo was equally consistent. She had 
 been a friend of the first Mrs. Wakefield, and was 
 probably the best female native helper of the mission 
 at RibS. These two persons were filled with the true 
 missionary spirit, and felt a great yearning to be made 
 a blessing to their heathen fellow-countrymen. Their 
 son, Arthur Huko, was a tall young man, with a very 
 intelligent English-looking face who, before removing 
 to Golbanti, creditably filled the position of native 
 schoolmaster at Jomvu. On the Sunday before 
 Christmas Day, 1883, he was married to Martha Safo, 
 a quiet Christian girl, the child of Christian parents. 
 Describing the wedding ceremony for the pleasure of 
 the young people of England, the present Mrs. Wake- 
 field says, " The bride wore a piece of white cambric 
 bound round her head and tied in a knot behind, and 
 a wreath of green leaves. A white handkerchief was 
 fastened round her neck, and a bright, coloured scarf 
 thrown over her dress. She looked very pleasing and 
 pretty. Huko wore a smoking cap Mr. Wakefield 
 had given him, embroidered with gold braid, and 
 having a gold tassel, a white jacket, and a coloured 
 cloth. He was accompanied by his father and 
 mother, and a friend named Gandi, and Safo was 
 supported by a father and mother and a little Wanyika 
 friend. The service was read in Kiswahili, by Mr. 
 Wakefield, and translated into Galla by Miesa. After 
 the ceremony was over Huko led his wife by the 
 hand to their house, followed by a long train of friends
 
 LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS pi 
 
 and acquaintances. We sent them a bottle of lime- 
 juice, some sugar, and pineapples, to supplement their 
 little feast." On the next morning, before daylight, 
 the bride and bridegroom and the parents of Huko 
 with others of the party for the Galla mission, left 
 Jomvu for their new home at Golbanti, some of them 
 never to see Jomvu or Rib again. Of KurtS and 
 Dida it is not necessary to say much. They were 
 enlightened men, but less prominent in mission work 
 than Aba Shora and Huko. Shakala, and his younger 
 brother, Gobu, were also of the party now settled at 
 Golbanti. Shakala was a courageous and useful young 
 man. In the first Mrs. Wakefield's time he was one 
 of the Ribe boys. After Mrs. Wakefield's death he 
 sent the writer the following letter : " Ribfe, July i8th, 
 1873. Sir, I send you news which will burn your 
 heart. Your sister came and taught us the way of 
 eternal life. She taught us to sing, and we were glad. 
 Her child became ill and died. We thought she would 
 recover, but God thought otherwise. Our expectation 
 came to naught, but the purpose of God has been 
 fulfilled. Your sister, it is true, has died, but do not 
 be sorrowful, for her spirit has gone where there is 
 everlasting life and that is where we are going. What 
 she taught us about Jesus we feel to be the truth, 
 Jesus' people shall see eternal life. Shakala." Gobu } 
 the brother of Shakala, was not so hopeful a member 
 of the little community. He was bold, impatient of 
 restraint, and in other ways as a youth had given 
 anxiety to his teachers, but much allowance must be 
 
 G 2
 
 92 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 made for the weaknesses and defects of young converts 
 from pure heathenism. These, then, with Godana and 
 some others were the native helpers of Mr. and Mrs 1 
 Houghton in their new work in this isolated region. 
 
 For the first few weeks after their settlement at 
 Golbanti, nothing beyond such difficulties as have 
 already been spoken of hindered the good work in 
 which they were doing their best to feel at home. 
 They were firmly determined to stand by their work 
 until success should crown their labours or the time 
 should come for their return to England. Writing on 
 March loth, Mr. Houghton had said : 
 
 "We are getting settled down here once again. 
 Settlements and unsettlements have been the order of 
 the day since coming here, but, as we did not come to 
 seek our ease we must not murmur. Nevertheless 
 we shall not be drawn from Golbanti by a team of 
 horses until we leave for our ' ain countree.' I don't 
 think we shall ever like it so well as Ribe, though we 
 feel more comfortable now than at first." True, indeed, 
 but in a higher sense than our heroic friends thought 
 was their noble resolution to remain at their post till 
 they should be called to their own dear home. 
 
 Only those who have themselves been cut off by 
 travel or by a residence in a distant land, can truly 
 understand the feeling of loneliness that sometimes 
 creeps over the spirits when the thoughts of loved ones 
 far away come rushing in like a flood over the soul, 
 or of the joy that the arrival of the English mail can 
 give to such persons. Even in the Galla country Mr
 
 LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS. 93 
 
 and Mrs. Houghton received their home letters, and it 
 is to the replies to many of these that we are indebted 
 for the interest of these pages. From Craigmore, 
 Denton, the children of the household had, after 
 Christmas, each written a little letter to their Auntie 
 and Uncle in Africa, and in reply to these childish 
 letters Mr. Houghton wrote a long rhyming epistle in 
 which each of them by name received some gentle and 
 loving message. 
 
 We have not space for the whole composition, but 
 its preface is as follows : 
 
 " Dear children all, you pleased us much, 
 
 By writing such a letter ; 
 And Auntie said there were not such 
 That could have written better. 
 
 We're glad to learn you all are well, 
 
 And had a jolly time ; 
 After the feast you'd stories tell, 
 
 In merry Christmas rhyme. 
 
 And Father Christmas was so good 
 
 To bring you all those things ; 
 It made us wish we only could 
 
 Just fly to you on wings." 
 
 And then follow a couple of verses, each devoted to 
 Edith, Harry, Willie, and Harold, the letter closing 
 with the now sadly suggestive verse : 
 
 " We send our love and kisses too, 
 
 From Afric's far-off shore ; 
 
 Hoping again to join with you 
 
 In frolics at Craigmore." 
 
 A hope which alas ! was never to be realised.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Bark 
 
 N Wednesday morning, February 24th, a new 
 and sad experience broke like a sudden thun- 
 derstorm over the peaceful little community 
 in the homes by the Tana river, and filled the 
 hearts of the missionaries with grave anxiety 
 and sorrow, and many of the natives homes with 
 mourning, desolation, and woe, and which was, alas ! to 
 be the prelude of deeper woes yet to come. The 
 dreaded Masai, of whom nothing had been heard in 
 this district for many years, suddenly appeared in the 
 very neighbourhood of the mission, and with what 
 intentions there was too good reason to determine. 
 Mrs. Houghton, in a letter to a friend, thus relates the 
 sad and tragic story : 
 
 " On Wednesday the 24th of last month we were 
 rather alarmed early in the morning. Men, women, 
 and children were coming with the few goods they 
 possessed to our house for protection, saying the 
 Masai were in the town. We thought at first it was 
 a false report, but it was soon confirmed by two men 
 coming to say that they had seen them. These 
 Masai people are the terror of the country where cattle 
 are kept They burned down a number of huts, took
 
 DARK SHADOWS. 95 
 
 away cattle, and killed between forty and fifty of the 
 Gallas. The Galla chief came and asked for our men 
 to go and help them to fight these people, and get 
 back their cattle. Mr. Houghton told him they were 
 not soldiers, and that he could not command them to 
 go, and also that we had not come to fight but to make 
 peace. He left us very much annoyed because we 
 offered no men. We keep guns on this station and 
 each of our men was armed to protect himself in case 
 the Masai came to the station. It was hard work to 
 keep them together, and while we were trying to have 
 dinner our men thought they would just look 
 round, not intending to go far. They met with a 
 number of the heathen Gallas, including the chief, and 
 they were asked to go further. When they were 
 nearly out of the wood the Masai came upon them. 
 Suddenly our men were put in front, fired their guns 
 and had not time to reload them. The Gallas fled,, 
 and four of our best and most useful men were killed, 
 speared to death ; the others threw down their guns 
 and escaped, except one man. He stood his ground, 
 and fired twice, and carried off the spears thrown 
 at him, receiving only a slight scar himself. He thinks 
 that had he not stood his ground he, too, would have 
 been killed. This event has been a great trouble to us. 
 We can ill afford to lose men like these as such are scarce 
 here. They became Christians at Ribe some years ago, 
 and returned here, for they were Galla men, when this 
 mission was commenced two years ago. The Masai 
 came to this country once before, many years ago, but
 
 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 took nothing but a few goats ; this time they have 
 taken nearly all the cattle." 
 
 Such is the brief, sad story of this calamity as told 
 by Mrs. Houghton, and to this account little need be 
 added. The four Christian Gallas who were slain by 
 the Masai were Aba Shora, Huko, Kurte, and Dida, 
 together with the youth Gobu, Shakala's brother, to all 
 of whom we have just referred. Shakala himself only 
 narrowly escaped death, a spear being hurled at him 
 by one of the Masai, which pierced him behind as he 
 ran, but he soon recovered from the wound. No attack 
 was made upon the mission, and, after securing all the 
 cattle in the neighbourhood as their spoils, the Masai 
 went away, it was hoped, never to return. 
 
 Dr. Krapf, in his " Missionary Travels," gives the 
 following account of the marauding tribe whose name 
 strikes terror through the coast regions of Eastern 
 Africa, and whose cruel revenge was soon to over- 
 shadow the Galla mission with a darker gloom than 
 that which, up to the time of the events just narrated, 
 had rested upon it. He says : 
 
 " The Masai occupy large plains in the interior of 
 Eastern Africa which extend from two degrees north 
 of the equator to about four degrees south of it The 
 name Masai is given to them by the tribes of the 
 coast Their manner of life is nomadic, and where 
 they find water and grass there they often encamp for 
 months together. They live entirely on milk, butter, 
 honey, and the meat of black cattle, goats, and sheep, 
 and on game which they hunt down. They have a
 
 DARK SHADOWS. 97 
 
 great distaste for agriculture, believing that the 
 nourishment afforded by cereals enfeebles, and is only 
 suited to the despised tribes of the mountains ; while 
 to feed on meat and milk gives strength and courage. 
 When cattle fail them they make raids on the tribes 
 which they know to be in possession of herds. They 
 say that Engai (heaven) gave them all that exists in 
 the way of cattle, and that other nations ought not to 
 possess any. Agreeably with this maxim they under- 
 take expeditions for hundreds of leagues to attain 
 their object, and make forays into the territories of the 
 Wakamba, the Gallas, the Wajagga, and even of the 
 Wanika on the sea-coast. They are dreaded as war- 
 riors, laying all waste with fire and sword, so that the 
 weaker tribes do not venture to resist them in the 
 open field, but leave them in possession of their herds, 
 and seek only to save themselves by the quickest 
 possible flight. 
 
 " The weapons of the Masai consist of a spear, a 
 large oblong shield, and a club, round and thick at 
 the top, hurling which with the greatest precision, at 
 a distance of from fifty to seventy paces they can 
 dash out the brains of an enemy ; and it is this 
 weapon above all which strikes terror into the East 
 Africans, the Swahili with their muskets not excepted. 
 The Masai shelter themselves behind their long shields 
 until they are close enough to the enemy to make 
 good use of their clubs. They conquer or die, death 
 having no terrors for them. 
 
 " As regards the religious notions of the Masai they
 
 A MASAI \VARRIOK.
 
 DARK SHADO WS. 99 
 
 appear, like other East Africans, to have a vague 
 notion of a supreme being, whom they call Engai. 
 This supreme being dwells on the white (snow- 
 capped) mountain whence comes the water or the 
 rain, which is so indispensable to their meadows and 
 herds. There is an intermediary being between Engai 
 and themselves, the Neiterkob, who is, as it were, the 
 mediator between Engai and man, and it is therefore 
 to him that they first turn to gain a hearing from 
 Engai, when, as we have seen, they pray for rain, 
 .health, victory, or cattle." The good missionary Krapf 
 adds : " May it be soon granted to our Protestant 
 Church to send missionaries to the millions of Waku- 
 fai and Masai, to proclaim to them the word which 
 preaches reconciliation, so that these worst of heathen, 
 ' a people terrible from their beginning hitherto,' may 
 be brought as an acceptable offering in the sight of 
 the Lord God of Sabaoth to Mount Zion, and taught 
 to know, to love, and to honour the true Neiterkob, 
 the shining ' Light of the world,' and cease to murder 
 and extirpate their fellow-men." 
 
 Mr. Joseph Thomson, who at great risk, recently 
 made a successful journey across part of the territory 
 occupied by this strange people, thus describes their 
 country : 
 
 " The Masai country is very markedly divided into 
 two quite distinct regions, the southerly or lower 
 desert area, and the northerly or plateau region. 
 
 " The southerly is comparatively low in altitude, 
 that is to say from 3000 to 4000 feet It is sterile and
 
 ioo THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 unproductive in the extreme. This is owing entirely 
 to the scantiness of the rainfall, which for about three 
 months of the year barely gives sufficient sustenance 
 to scattered tufts of grass. The acacia and mimosa 
 have almost sole possession of these dreary plains 
 except near the base of some isolated mountain, or 
 other highland, where small rivulets trickle down to 
 be speedily absorbed in the sands. No river traverses 
 this region and many parts are covered with incrusta- 
 tions of natron, left by the evaporation of salt-charged 
 springs. 
 
 " The northern or plateau region rises from an 
 elevation of about 5000 feet to one little short of 
 9000 feet. On the eastern half of this divided plateau 
 rises the snow-clad peak of Kenia, and the picturesque 
 range of the Aberdare Mountains which runs almost 
 parallel with the central line of depression. A more 
 charming region is probably not to be found in all 
 Africa. Here are dense patches of flowering shrubs ; 
 there noble forests. Now you traverse a park-like 
 country, enlivened by groups of game : anon, great 
 herds of cattle or flocks of sheep and goats are seen 
 wandering knee deep in the splendid pasture. There 
 is little in the aspect of the country to suggest the 
 popular idea of the tropics. The eye rests upon coni- 
 ferous trees, forming pine-like woods ; and you can 
 gather sprigs of heath, sweet-scented clover, anemone 
 and other familiar forms. In vain you look for the 
 graceful palm, ever present in the mental pictures 
 of the untravelled traveller. The country is a very
 
 DARK SHADOWS. 101 
 
 network of babbling brooks and streams, those of 
 Lykipia forming the mysterious Guaso Nyiro : those 
 of Kikuyu the Tana, which flows to the Indian Ocean 
 through the Galla country : while further c outh in 
 Kapte the streams converge to form the Alhe river, 
 which flows through Ukambani to the Sabaki river." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Houghton, and their now diminished 
 band of helpers, having committed to their last rest- 
 ing-place the remains of the native Christians who 
 had fallen in their unwise contest with the Masai, 
 turned again bravely to their work hoping, as Mrs. 
 Houghton said, for " better days to come." And so 
 the days came and went, varied only by the troubles 
 and annoyances to which they were now becoming 
 accustomed, and by the ever welcome arrival of the 
 English mail with its heavy budget of letters from 
 loved relatives and friends. 
 
 On Monday, April 3rd, Mrs. Houghton wrote to 
 her brother and friends at Denton the last letter but 
 one they were ever to receive from her facile pen, and, 
 that the reader may have as full a view of the home life 
 at Golbanti before the last deep shadow of death fell 
 upon it, the letter, omitting only a few details, is here 
 given almost entire. It is as follows : 
 
 " GOLBANTI, April $rd, 1886. 
 " DEAR MOTHER, BROTHER, AND SISTER, 
 
 "You will be glad to know we have at last 
 received our Christmas mail, Graphic, Illustrated 
 London News, Manchester and Stockport papers, and
 
 102 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 the season's cards also, for which we are very thankful. 
 Mgomba's card we sent to him ; I am sure he would 
 be pleased. We miss him very much ; he is really 
 the best black man we have met with. Now just a 
 word about our mail time. We send a couple of 
 trustworthy men to Lamu with a decent-sized bag I 
 have made for the purpose ; it takes them three days 
 to go down, and rather more returning, as the tide is 
 then against them. The day we are expecting their 
 return we are all excitement, and our best paper knife 
 is brought out ready for the work. Our home letter 
 Mr. Houghton generally reads aloud, so that we both 
 get the news at once. The papers we take to bed, 
 for we cannot with any pleasure stay up long after 
 six o'clock. We are very grateful for the papers, but 
 sorry we were to see you had lost in England two 
 such men as Mr. Hugh Mason and Joseph Maas. 
 
 " I will now answer the pointed interrogations in 
 your last. About six or eight men came to Lamu 
 from Golbanti to meet us and take up our luggage, 
 Mr. During met us at Kau, we had with us our two 
 boys (servants), so we were not so small a party as you 
 thought. 
 
 " I am the first white woman that has ever been 
 in this part of Africa, so you may know I have been 
 an object of no little curious observation. No other 
 European missionaries have been stationed here, and 
 there are none nearer than Mombasa ; thus we are 
 quite isolated. Poor Bishop Hannington met with 
 a terrible death. He had with him no other European.
 
 DARK SHADOWS. 103 
 
 A William Jones, a black man from India, who is a 
 curate at one of the Church Missions, I think, was his 
 leading man. The Bishop left him with a number of 
 his men for some purpose, for a month, then he was 
 to follow ; the men he took with him were all picked 
 men and only three of them were saved : they escaped 
 during the excitement, the rest were all bound and 
 speared, the Bishop, bound hands and feet, was shot. 
 
 " This has cast a gloom over all the mission stations, 
 for he was a good man and very much respected. 
 
 " We have been pretty much unsettled ever since 
 our arrival, partly owing to the difficulties inherent in 
 missionary life, and partly owing to the excessive 
 demands made upon us by these Gallas. We have to 
 be careful, for this is an expensive mission ; they have 
 had much from the Society, and seem to regard us 
 only as a means of further supply. Mr. Houghton 
 has shown to them our true position, and tried to stop 
 this constant begging, with results not very pleasing 
 at first, but now they are much quieter and more 
 respectful. 
 
 " To be on good terms with the chief, the law is 
 " give him much, he likes you much." We have given 
 him a present, but it was not enough for him. The 
 committee allows us to do this when we go into a 
 strange country. The Gallas are very conservative, 
 their customs are kept intact by all generations ; they 
 are not devoid, however, of understanding, they can 
 reason with you. When a woman loses her husband 
 she becomes the property of her husband's brother, or
 
 BISHOP HANNINGTON.
 
 DARK SHADOWS. 105 
 
 the nearest relative. A man has to pay two hundred 
 dollars to the parents of the woman to whom he 
 is married. So you see wives are not very cheap here. 
 
 " When first we came here we baked our bread in 
 a saucepan on the fire ; we have since got some very 
 small stones from the bed of a lake, apparently of 
 volcanic origin, and my husband has built an oven 
 which acts very well, he has also fitted up a cupboard. 
 We cannot get tenibo (or yeast) in this part of the 
 country, so I make the bread with carbonate of soda 
 and cream of tartar. I make it into cakes and a small 
 quantity at a time, so that it does not go dry. We 
 get flour from Zanzibar a barrel at once ; it is very 
 good, but rather dearer than you get it at home, but 
 the difference is not such that it is worth while 
 sending to England for it. There are many things 
 at Ribe we cannot get here, though we don't fare amiss. 
 
 " The tinned meats arid vegetables are grand 
 things for Europeans in Africa. We live on fowls 
 mostly, with goat occasionally. By the way, we have 
 three goats, two of them only a few days old ; we get 
 a little milk every day : to have proper milk in our tea 
 and cocoa is a luxury. Tell the children I should 
 like them to see our goats ; they are so pretty. Twice 
 during the last week a squirrel has got into our house 
 after we had gone to bed. We caught one and set a 
 trap for the other ; it was caught but managed to get 
 away with the trap. One of the boys has since found 
 the trap, and the squirrel dead. 
 
 " For some days we have had thunder and yester- 
 
 H
 
 io6 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 day our first heavy shower of rain for this season. We 
 are told in the rainy season the mosquitoes are 
 numerous both night and day ; is this not a conso- 
 lation ? 
 
 " I am glad to say all things considered our health 
 keeps good, we have only had one attack of fever 
 since coming here, and that I think was owing to the 
 rather rough journey we had. 
 
 "Well, I must now cease until another time. 
 " With love, ever yours, 
 
 " ANNIE HOUGHTON." 
 
 We now come to the last letter by Mrs. Houghton's 
 hand. It was written in readiness for the May mail, 
 and was found, unposted, after her death. It is 
 addressed to Mrs. Brown of Craigmore, and is as 
 follows : 
 
 " GOLBANTI, April 27 th, 1886. 
 
 " MY DEAR SISTER, 
 
 " Patience is at last rewarded. So I thought when 
 I received your letter last mail. I have often wished of 
 late you would write, though I know you are always 
 busy. (I have just looked out, and beheld our goat 
 being milked ; it takes four of them to manage this 
 business, one holding the head, another the legs, whilst 
 another does the milking, and one acts as overseer, as 
 a matter of course. The energy with which these 
 people go about their work is enough to stiffen their 
 joints. Were it necessary to make a rush well, they 
 could not do it.)
 
 DARK SHADOWS. 107 
 
 K I am glad to say the Gallas now treat us respect- 
 fully. My husband from the first made them know 
 their place ; they require firm treatment, but kind. 
 We now get more to chapel. The chief and ourselves 
 are on better terms, and this is worth something ; still 
 I don't think Mr. Brown will have to make him a new 
 hat yet, for his head is always adorned with a natural 
 covering of good black wool, so he has no need of 
 head covering. 
 
 " I have little news to send you. We get little 
 change here. Now and again we make a fresh dis- 
 covery of some animal or insect, a beetle of extra 
 size, or a snake longer and prettier than the last we 
 saw. Although there are many snakes in this country 
 few people get bitten by them, and this is very fortu- 
 nate, for their bite is most venomous. The other 
 evening I had my first walk away from the station, 
 and went through the wood of which our house is at 
 the entrance. I enjoyed it very much ; we saw a 
 number of partridges and other birds, but were un- 
 able to catch any. There is now at the end of the 
 wood a piteous sight, a deserted village, caused 
 through the Masai invasion. 
 
 " We get the mosquitoes still ; but they are not at 
 their BEST just now, but' I suppose will be shortly, the 
 river is rising, and this is a warning for us. 
 
 " Last mail I received a kind letter from William 
 Leigh, Esq., Mayor of Stockport. I was glad to learn 
 they had not forgotten me at the dear old school. 
 
 " I am sorry trade is so bad at home. I trust 
 
 H 2
 
 io8 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 times may brighten soon that all may have enough 
 and to spare. 
 
 " I am glad to say our health is good on the 
 whole ; in this country we need to be careful and do 
 all we can to keep ourselves right. We have plenty 
 of work, which, if not too laborious, is one of the best 
 things for health here. 
 
 " My husband is very busy getting ready for the 
 new chapel. He has to do the joinering and other 
 work, otherwise it would not get done on this side of 
 Christmas. 
 
 " To us it seems as though we made little progress. 
 But then ' Rome was not built in a day,' so we must 
 'Learn to labour and to wait,' and if our work be 
 slow let us hope it may be sure. 
 
 " After all this is but letter writing, and it won't 
 compare with a fire-side chat. Oh I should enjoy 
 one. 
 
 " I am ever your loving sister, 
 
 "ANNIE HOUGHTON." 
 
 Some extracts from an unfinished letter of Mr. 
 Houghton must bring this chapter to a close. It was. 
 pre-dated May 8th, the time of the next homeward 
 mail, but was probably written on or about the same 
 date as the one by Mrs. Houghton. It is indeed 
 possible that it may have been written only a day or 
 two before the sad event to be related in the next 
 chapter. The letter is written to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Brown of Denton.
 
 DARK SHADOWS. 109 
 
 "GOLBANTI, May %tk, 1886. 
 
 "Mv DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER, 
 
 " We get pretty good mails every month ; either 
 Stockport, Leeds, Lincoln, or stray friends elsewhere 
 writing to us more or less regularly. We get it 
 generally five days or a week after the boat gets to 
 Lamu, and have to send as many days before, so that 
 our time for answering is by so much curtailed. And 
 the mosquitoes take our evenings when we used to do 
 all our writing, so that now it is a regular part of our 
 day's work to write home. 
 
 " We sometimes wonder what idea you have of us 
 and our way of life, for the conditions are so different 
 here that by description it is scarcely possible to make 
 it plain. We have no fear whatever from the people ; 
 so far as they are concerned we feel perfectly safe. 
 We have come now to know them pretty well and 
 they us. They do not by any means come up to 
 what we expected ; and though they no doubt have 
 the possibilities of making a superior people to such 
 tribes as the Wanyika, they remain to be developed 
 by altogether new conditions of life. One vice 
 which has entirely demoralised the Wanyika : viz., 
 drunkenness, they have not, having no cocoa-nut 
 trees, though some of them at Ribe are very fond of 
 the toddy when they can get it. We get more to 
 come to chapel, but I can only talk to them through 
 an interpreter, and know not what effect upon them 
 their attendance may have. Ours is truly a work in 
 which the greatest patience is required, and in which
 
 Ho THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI 
 
 you are subject to much discouragement. We are 
 both in capital health as health goes here and have no 
 fever ; when the rain comes we may not fare so well, 
 though we cannot tell. The rain delays its coming, 
 and we are getting anxious for our crops, for we 
 farm off a few acres for the people's food. We have 
 no foodstuffs here beside fowl, bananas (which are 
 most delicious fried), and a bean-like vegetable or 
 two. That's all. 
 
 " We're becoming famous as doctors. The people 
 come a long way for medicine. The chest I got 
 from Denton is simply invaluable. We have a few 
 good books on the subject, and when a patient 
 comes we try to find out first what is his disease, 
 hunt it up, prescribe accordingly if we have the 
 medicine, and, if otherwise, what we think best. I 
 have now on hand a very bad case of dropsy which 
 I despair of, though it has been much reduced. Of 
 dentistry I am become an old hand and perform 
 it quite painlessly to me. The Gallas are very 
 nervous when ill, and sometimes come when nothing 
 ails them."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 the foregoing chapter has been 
 passing through the press, a diary, in Mr. 
 Houghton's handwriting, and extending 
 from January ist, 1886, to April 29th 
 (four days only before his death), has 
 come to hand. The daily entries, though brief, bring 
 vividly before us the true position of a missionary 
 living in a new country, and as many of them as the 
 limits of this book will allow are now given. 
 
 " Thursday^ January 28//J. Came into the new 
 house. Unpacked some of our things. Find mos- 
 quitoes very numerous. Neither of us very well or 
 strong. Journey begins to tell on us. 
 
 Sunday ~$ist. Preached to-day, Mr. During in- 
 terpreting. 
 
 February \st. Commenced to make a fence round 
 the house, and finished a joiner's shop, &c. 
 
 Tuesday 2nd. Prime Minister came to-day and 
 asked for five dollars. Refused him. The Gallas 
 only seem to care for us for the money they can get 
 out of us. None of them work, but live on begging. 
 
 Sunday "jth. Sattie, Godana's wife, buried to-day. 
 Died suddenly in the night. Impressive funeral. 
 
 Monday $th. Godana much cast down over his 
 wife. Unable to get another, as they want 200 dollars.
 
 ii2 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 Girls are scarce. The family of the reigning chief kil. 
 all small children during his seven years' term of 
 office. 
 
 Wednesday \vth. All the Gallas at Weichu are 
 under the Germans. 
 
 Thursday nth. Mr. During went away to-day. 
 
 Saturday i^th. A good many beggars to-day. 
 All the Gallas seem to think they have a right to 
 demand presents, and are quite insolent in their 
 asking. 
 
 Sunday i^th. Aba Shora preached to-day. 
 
 Monday i$th. Had a visit to-day from the chief 
 and the elders of the Gallas. Very insolent and saucy. 
 Left in an abrupt way. Anticipate some trouble. 
 
 Tuesday i6th. Our own workmen imported from 
 Rib and Jomvu very troublesome. Hear of them 
 saying they will run away secretly, and to-night they 
 came to ask if their month was not up. 
 
 Thursday i8//z. Men gone to work to-day after a 
 good scolding yesterday. These people do not 
 seem amenable to kind treatment. Their course of 
 life has crushed out of them all feeling of gratitude 
 or justice. Fence nearly finished. A poorly man 
 lost in the night. 
 
 Friday igth. Aba Shora with another man seek 
 the lost youth to-day, but find no trace of him. He 
 has probably lost his reason and drowned himself, or 
 fallen into the river, though he was almost too weak 
 to walk there. 
 
 Saturday 2Oth. Sent Uledi to get up lime from 
 the Ozi in Pokomo canoes. Wapokomos have gone 
 with him after all. Our monthly men not working
 
 MR. HOUGHTON'S DIARY. 113 
 
 to-day. Like everybody else, give much trouble. All 
 the Gallas have sought the missing youth to-day, but 
 have not seen him. 
 
 Sunday 2ist. Began class-pence to-day. (Beg- 
 ging) Gallas know our Sunday and leave us alone. 
 A pleasant relief. 
 
 Monday 22nd. Expecting anxiously our letters 
 and papers to-day. We have had no news for two 
 months or more, having just missed the December 
 mail by leaving Mombasa. 
 
 Tuesday 2^rd. Got our mail to-day. At least, 
 those letters which came from England to Lamu. 
 Those sent on from Mombasa, as we find, miscarried 
 to Aden. Good news from home. We hear from 
 Mombasa that the death of the Bishop (Hannington) 
 is confirmed. 
 
 Wednesday 24th. (Mrs. H.) Masai came to-day. 
 Five of our men were killed. A great trouble for us. 
 (Mr. H.) Came very early in the morning, and killed 
 a number of Gallas in a near village, carrying away 
 their cattle. People on the station very excited and 
 uncontrollable. Hear at night they have been out 
 and met the Masai with a number of Gallas. Fired 
 their guns when close up, and had no time to run 
 away, or fire again, before they were on them. Lost 
 four of our best men. A number of Gallas also 
 speared. It appears only seven Masai were seen, but 
 the sight of them frightened all the Gallas, who at 
 once threw down their spears and ran away. 
 
 Friday 26th. The calamity of Wednesday has 
 thoroughly upset us. The anxious watching, not 
 knowing how soon the Masai might be on us, loss 
 of food, and sorrow at the irreparable loss our little
 
 ii4 THE MARTYRS OF GO LEANT!. 
 
 Church has sustained, has made us .quite ill and 
 nervous. 
 
 Saturday 2,-jth. But little better to-day. Heat 
 the Masai have gone away. 
 
 Sunday 2&th. Too ill to go to morning prayers. 
 Went to service and preached. My interpreter 
 fainted, and brought the service to an abrupt conclu- 
 sion. 
 
 Monday, March 1st. Had the chief here to-day 
 begging. Gave him five dollars, at which he was 
 dissatisfied, but I refused to increase it. Have had to 
 give large quantities of food to the fugitive Gallas. 
 Hostile to us, they fly here in every emergency. 
 
 Tuesday 2nd. It is reported that the Masai have 
 had a few killed among them. The chief says there 
 were not, in all, more than twenty, yet the Gallas fled 
 from them like children. The terror of their name is 
 something awful. 
 
 Wednesday $rd. Am hastening on the boma, or 
 large fence, round the house, to assist in our protection 
 in any such emergency as that of last week. 
 
 Thursday ^th. Have got up a large quantity of 
 lime for a new chapel. We must build soon, as the 
 other old mud-house is nearly down. The expense of 
 getting it up is something alarming, more than 200 
 per cent on the, cost. 
 
 Friday $th. Did a little at the Galla language 
 again. Not so easy as Kiswahili, having no grammar 
 or dictionary to refer to. Am getting a little insight 
 into it. 
 
 Saturday 6th. A quiet sort of day. Monthly 
 men who left work altogether on a Saturday, instead
 
 MR. HOUGHTON'S DIARY. 115 
 
 of half the day only, have returned to the custom. 
 They need to be governed with firmness, I find. Mon- 
 keys, partridges, guinea-fowl, squirrels, wild cats close 
 at hand. 
 
 Sunday "jth. Shakala preached to-day in Galla, 
 and I spoke in the afternoon in Kiswahili. 
 
 Thursday nth. Took the school children on the 
 verandah. Not very sharp ; are, however, very tract- 
 able and willing, and rather like coming here. 
 
 Friday \2th. Shakala, our chief convert now, very 
 ill to-day. 
 
 Saturday \"$th. Chief of Gallas came to-day 
 begging. Tried to frighten me. Had an unsatis- 
 factory interview. Sent off a good mail to-day. 
 
 Sunday \^th. Preached about the prodigal son 
 to-day. Dufu interpreted. 
 
 Monday i^th. Shakala improving to-day, and 
 very thankful for the attention shown him. 
 
 Tuesday i6t/i. Got a large piece of the fencing 
 done to-day, and built an oven in the kitchen : a work 
 of some difficulty, as I had only very small, irregularly 
 formed stones. A woman with a bad corn cured with 
 soap plaster. 
 
 Wednesday \"jth. Have laid out a new chapel to- 
 day. To be larger than our present one, and better built. 
 The one we have is falling, and is far ruder than it 
 need be, and very inconvenient, being so far distant 
 from the house. 
 
 Sunday 2ist. Preached to-day from " Repent ye: 
 the kingdom of God is at hand." 
 
 Monday 22nd. New chapel commenced to-day. 
 Site nearer the house. More open view. It will be
 
 ii6 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 larger, built of sticks, mud, and lime, and have a maca- 
 damised floor. 
 
 Tuesday 2yd. Expected letters to-day, but are 
 disappointed. Mail-times here very unsettling. We 
 wonder and wonder, and wait and wait, and are unable 
 to bend to serious work. 
 
 Wednesday 24^/2. Wednesday. The Gallas are 
 getting more manageable. They evidently appreciate 
 a firm standing. 
 
 Sunday, April ^.t/i. Preached to-day from the 
 story of Cain and Abel. 
 
 Monday $th. The commission, given the task of 
 defining the Sultan's territory, and settling the de- 
 mands of the Germans, has arrived at Kipini, bringing 
 the several members of it in their own men-of-war, 
 namely a German, French, and English. 
 
 Wednesday "jth. The commissioners have come 
 to Kau, and from there will go to Witu, a place 
 the Germans claim as having been given to 
 them by Simba, a rebel of the Sultan. Are very busy 
 with our letters for the mail. 
 
 Saturday \Qth. Have sent off our mail to-day, 
 and laid the garden out, in doing which I lost a use- 
 ful piece of wood (kikatoza). Begin to look straight 
 outside. Chapel coming on apace. 
 
 Sunday \\th. Preached to-day from the parable 
 of the talents. 
 
 Monday 12th. Men came to-day from Jomvu 
 with letters : answering ours with account of Masai 
 invasion. Mr. Wakefield fears that Balafo will be 
 claimed according to Galla custom by her husband's
 
 MR. HOUGHTON'S DIARY. 117 
 
 brother, and all their children, and wants her to go to 
 Lamu. 
 
 Tuesday \^th. Have sent off replies to Mr. Wake- 
 field by express mail, saying I had made all provision 
 for our widows and children, and that Balafo would 
 not go to Lamu. 
 
 Wednesday i^t/i. Rain and thunderstorm to-day. 
 Thermometer fell eight degrees in five minutes. 
 Hear that the Masai have come again, higher up the 
 country, and slain a number of Gallas. All the 
 country from Malindi to here depopulated. Sent 
 men off to bring me up from Kipini boards from 
 Zanzibar, which our Lamu agent has sent on to 
 Kipini. Want them for chapel furniture, &c. I have 
 not a board on the station. 
 
 Friday i6th, Jomvu messengers sent back to- 
 day. Two Gallas went with them to sleep with them 
 the first night on the plain. There are now many 
 wild animals about. A few hours from us herds of 
 zebra are to be seen, and many of the larger and 
 smaller game. Partridges as common as other birds ; 
 coming quite into the town. 
 
 Sunday \^th. Shakala preached to-day. 
 
 Tuesday 2Oth. Our mail got here to-day from 
 home. Good news, and plenty of it. Made us very 
 glad. The mail from Zanzibar is, I hear, stranded 
 somewhere below that port, and most likely our letters 
 will have a month to wait, and go with the next mail. 
 It will delay our provisions, for which we sent off last 
 week. 
 
 Thursday 22nd. Am getting an increase in people 
 attending chapel, and, what is best, they are coming 
 without pressure. I always tell them the whole
 
 n8 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 matter is of the heart, not of pressure or fear, or 
 power, but of willingness and love. 
 
 Friday 2$rd. (Good Friday). This day had 
 gone by before we knew it. It was only by seeing it 
 in the almanack at night we discovered that a Christ- 
 ian festival had passed us unnoticed. This makes us 
 feel how entirely we are cut off from the world. 
 
 Saturday 2^th. Have finished my fourth form 
 for the chapel. They look rather smart, being made 
 of good wood (mahogany) from Madagascar. 
 
 Sunday 2^th. Preached to-day on the resurrection 
 of the dead. 
 
 Monday 26th. Joinering all day to-day, and am 
 done up. Work here soon knocks one up : though, 
 done in moderation, it is superior to all medicines in 
 this land. 
 
 Tuesday 2jth. Two men brought me the contents 
 of a crocodile's nest to-day, namely, about thirty 
 young ones. They were very like large lizards. 
 Many are found in the river, of large size, and dan- 
 gerous. 
 
 Wednesday 2%th. Have finished to-day the frame 
 for chapel door. It has been hard work, being cut 
 down from a very hard tree, almost like chiselling 
 iron. 
 
 Thursday 2th. (The last entry in the diary.) 
 Have been busy to-day making forms for new 
 chapel, and looking after workmen, who are daubing 
 the chapel, or rather plastering it, with mud." 
 
 And so the days of April came and went, until the 
 month of showers and sunshine had passed away.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Jfaitljful Ent0 
 
 1 E have now, with a sad heart, arrived at 
 the last day in the earthly lives of these 
 devoted servants of God. 
 
 It has been observed by the reader, 
 that during the visit of the Masai to Gol- 
 banti, on February 24th, some of the native Christians 
 had unwisely, and contrary to Mr. Houghton's express 
 orders, stolen away from the mission-house, and 
 allowed themselves to be drawn into a conflict with 
 the invaders, some of whom appear to have been 
 wounded by their fire. It did not occur to them that 
 the Masai, supposing them to be acting under the in- 
 structions of the white man himself, would in a short 
 time return with the cruel purpose of taking a terrible 
 revenge upon the missionaries. This, however, must, 
 we fear, be regarded as the true explanation of the 
 mournful events now to be recorded. 
 
 The morning of Monday, the 3rd day of May, 
 broke peacefully over the little community at Gol- 
 banti, with no faint shadow of the dreadful tragedy 
 which was to take place there before the bright sun 
 should have reached its zenith in the sky. About six 
 o'clock the mission-house was astir with its usual 
 morning activities. Prayers were over, breakfast was
 
 120 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 prepared and enjoyed , the block almanack that hung 
 on the wall stripped of another leaf, and " Monday, 
 May 3rd," registered to the inmates of that busy and 
 happy home. About eight o'clock on that as yet un- 
 clouded morning a stranger looking in upon the quiet 
 scene would have found Mrs. Houghton, assisted by 
 her black male cook, engaged in preparations for 
 baking bread in that new oven of her husband's 
 building, of which we have already been informed ; 
 a basin of flour for the purpose of some cakes stands 
 upon the table, and one or two domestics are busy 
 here and there carrying out their mistress' instructions. 
 If the stranger would have found Mr. Houghton he 
 must have crossed the enclosure in which the house 
 stands, passed through the opening in the stockade, 
 which was by-and-by to be filled by a gate, and on 
 along a wide road for a short distance to the chapel, 
 a newly-erected and as yet unfinished building. 
 Entering this building he would have found Mr. 
 Houghton, clad in a white suit, engaged in plastering 
 the walls. Godana, one of the Christian Gallas from 
 Ribe, was there with him, rendering him assistance. 
 The heathen Gallas in their miniature villages around 
 the mission were following their usual simple avoca- 
 tions with no sense of fear, or of the danger that was 
 now close at hand. 
 
 It was now about half-past eight o'clock. Mrs. 
 Houghton, requiring some eggs for the purpose of 
 making the cakes, had sent her cook, Mbaji, to see if 
 he could buy any in the settlement. He went, but
 
 FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH. 121 
 
 was some little time before he returned : his spirit, he 
 said, prompted him to linger. Mrs. Houghton, there- 
 fore, went to the door, and watched for his coming ; 
 and by her side stood the woman whose duty it was 
 to fetch water from the spring, and who had just 
 poured out the contents of her jar into a vessel placed 
 in the verandah for the purpose. Looking up, this 
 woman perceived Mrs. Houghton was intently gazing 
 at something in the distance. Looking steadily in 
 the same direction, she screamed, * Yes, Bibi ! these 
 are Masai ! " and immediately fled to the forest close 
 by, and saved her life. Who can describe the feelings 
 of the brave missionary's wife at this critical moment. 
 What should she do? She might have fled to the 
 forest also with her servant, and so escaped danger, 
 for the Masai never enter a forest. The way to the 
 river too was clear and open, and as soon as the pres- 
 ence of the Masai was known some of the Gallas 
 rushed to the waterside to escape across the river 
 in canoes. Mrs. Houghton took neither of these 
 courses, but immediately ran across the enclosure, 
 out at the opening in the stockade, and along the 
 road toward the chapel, "to warn her husband." 
 He had, however, heard a commotion, and had 
 just left the building. They met, and immediately 
 hurried back toward the house, where with firearms 
 ready in case of such an emergency as the pre- 
 sent, Mr. Houghton would have been prepared to 
 defend his own life and the lives of those dear to him. 
 Meanwhile, during Mrs. Houghton's absence, a number 
 
 I
 
 122 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTI. 
 
 of the Masai, armed with long, heavy spears and 
 terrible clubs have passed through the stockade and, 
 not having found anyone at the house, were re-passing 
 through the opening as the missionaries approached. 
 Another party of these remorseless warriors had 
 passed round the outside of the fence, and now, meet- 
 ing their companions, the whole company came upon 
 Mr. and Mrs. Houghton in the open road and at once 
 surrounded them. 
 
 Over the events that now followed it were almost 
 fitting that the veil should be allowed to fall, but that 
 we cling with a loving yearning to the record of 
 last moments of our dearest friends, though the know- 
 ledge we seek after wrings our very souls with agony. 
 Let the sad story, then, be briefly, as it is sorrowfully, 
 told. Without allowing time and opportunity for 
 "palaver," had the difficulty presented by the lan- 
 guages been overcome, one of the tall young warriors 
 raised his spear and struck Mrs. Houghton in the side, 
 when she at once fell. The wound was mortal, and, 
 caught up by attendant angels, the spirit of that brave 
 Christian woman was carried to the Saviour, in whose 
 service she had heroically died. The cruel and relent- 
 less strangers then attacked the helpless missionary 
 himself, spearing him in the side, back, and in the 
 neck, when he too fell in the road, only a few feet 
 distant from where the lifeless body of his noble wife 
 was lying ; and another martyr spirit received an 
 abundant entrance into the everlasting home of the 
 blest
 
 FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH. 123 
 
 The Masai, not content with having thus cruelly 
 murdered those who had never harmed a member of 
 their tribe, scattered themselves over the settlement 
 and murdered whoever of the natives they found. By 
 the riverside a number of terrified Gallas, heathen and 
 Christian, were engaged in making their escape. Four 
 of the boys who had from a distance witnessed the 
 death of the missionaries succeeded in swimming across 
 the river, and, as the Masai never cross rivers, were 
 now safe. A large number of persons had crowded 
 themselves into a canoe, which, in crossing the river, 
 alas ! upset, and fourteen persons were drowned. One 
 poor woman, after the upsetting of the canoe, suc- 
 ceeded in gaining the Golbanti side of the stream, 
 where she stood, waist deep in the water, holding on 
 to the sedge growing by the river-side, when one of 
 the Masai saw her and at once cruelly speared her to 
 death. 
 
 Finding Godana in the chapel the Masai severely 
 clubbed him and left him for dead. They also 
 returned to the house, which they plundered of the 
 bedding and of all the valuables their savage ignor- 
 ance was able to appreciate ; and, that no other 
 human being might possibly escape by any secret 
 hiding place, they speared the curtains of the bed, the 
 pillows and mattresses, as well as the curtain that 
 hung before the cupboard. The lamp was dashed to 
 the ground, and the glass shattered into the smallest 
 pieces. Having exhausted their desires for plunder 
 and revenge the murderers departed, leaving over the 
 
 I 2
 
 124 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 but late peaceful and busy settlement the gloom and' 
 silence of the grave, the dead unburied, and the 
 mission-house in the most complete disorder and 
 confusion. 
 
 There is something touching in the tenderness 
 and love for the martyred missionaries which was 
 shown by the terror-stricken Christian Gallas be- 
 fore the sun set on this memorable day. Immedi- 
 ately that the Masai had departed, the Gallas, who- 
 were in hiding in various places around the mission- 
 station, came forth from their refuges and crossed to< 
 the other side of the Tana ; but in the afternoon of 
 the same day Shakala, Mbaji, and their companions 
 recrossed the river to the mission, and tenderly and 
 reverently gathered up the bodies of their late dear 
 departed friends, and prepared them for their last 
 resting-place. The spot chosen for the burial 
 of the missionaries was inside the enclosure, near 
 the stockade, and about thirty yards from the 
 mission-house. Here the grave was prepared, and r 
 amid silent sorrow, the martyred forms of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Houghton were committed to the ground. The 
 sorrowful offices for the dead being completed, the 
 mourning friends recrossed the Tana to prepare for 
 themselves temporary dwelling-places, and to send 
 on the tidings of the tragedy to Lamu and Mombasa, 
 the sad effects of which upon the minds of the missionr- 
 ary band there may be better imagined than described. 
 
 The news reached Mombasa just as Mrs. Wake- 
 field and Mrs. Baxter, accompanied as far as Aden by
 
 FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH. 125 
 
 Mr. Wakefield, were, through the serious illness of 
 their children, leaving for England. Mr. During 
 therefore left Rib& to visit Lamu, and proceeded 
 thence to Golbanti, to obtain the fullest news of the 
 disaster, and to comfort and encourage the surviving 
 Christians. 
 
 On returning from Aden, Mr. Wakefield disem- 
 barked at Lamu, and, accompanied by an Australian 
 friend, proceeded by way of Kipini and the Ozi to 
 Golbanti. With his sorrowful account of what took 
 place there we will close this volume. Writing from 
 Golbanti on August 26th, 1886, he says : 
 
 " We arrived at this place last Friday afternoon at 
 three o'clock (August 2oth). The monsoon being 
 unfavourable we had to walk to Kipini. Our errand, 
 that of visiting the Golbanti station after its unparal- 
 leled disaster, was a most painful one. As soon 
 as we reached the landing place we saw on the 
 opposite side of the river a small quantity of huts, 
 which had been hastily put up. The few people we 
 saw there were poor refugees, the few who had 
 survived the Masai raid. They had crossed the river to 
 seek a temporary shelter. We landed and walked on 
 to the first mission-house, where the late Mr. Houghton 
 and I lived together the last time I came up. In the 
 evening we went to see the house which Mr. and Mrs. 
 Houghton had chosen for their residence. On the 
 way, and close to the road, we were shown a stick, 
 planted in the ground, and were told that was the 
 place where Mr. Houghton fell. A little further on,
 
 126 THE MARTYRS OF GOLBANTL 
 
 and on the same side of the road, we were shown the 
 charred remains of a young sapling, and that marks 
 the spot where Mrs. Houghton was killed. We then 
 went to the grave, where the bodies of our dear friends 
 were buried. It is near the stockade, inside, and about 
 thirty yards from the house. This was a sorrowful 
 little journey over the ground, and we walked along 
 in silence. We next opened the house and walked in. 
 Here everything was in dreadful confusion. Lamp- 
 glasses and tumblers thrown on the ground and 
 shivered to pieces ; reels of cotton, the cotton tangled ; 
 and pins and all sorts of things, rulers, pens, paper, an 
 inkstand, &c., all scattered about in confusion. Two 
 sad mementoes silently, but with touching pathos, told 
 a sad tale. One was a basin of flour, which was 
 standing on the table, and which Mrs. Houghton was 
 using in making bread when the Masai appeared ; 
 the other was a block almanack, which registered 
 Monday, May 3rd, the day of the disaster. 
 
 " Mr. During had left the house as it was, when thus 
 sacked, that I might see it for myself. The store- 
 room had been entered also, and tacks, and nails, and 
 tools scattered about. The table knives, which were 
 in the sitting-room, the Masai had carried away, and 
 some of the spoons. The bed-sheets, and pillow-cases, 
 which were in use at the time, were carried off, but 
 those in the drawers, and clothes, &c., in boxes, had 
 escaped their notice. You can only very partially 
 imagine what were our feelings while going through 
 this sorrowful duty of inspection.
 
 FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH. 127 
 
 " The next day, thanks to Mr. During, who had 
 brought up stone and lime and builders to the station, 
 we were able to build a neat tomb, fittingly and per- 
 manently to mark the spot where our two martyrs are 
 sleeping. It looks well, but it will ever be impressive 
 with sad tidings. 
 
 " On Sunday afternoon at five o'clock, when there 
 would be no fear of the Masai, as they only attack in 
 the earlier part of the day, we read the funeral service 
 over the grave, and then adjourned to the shady 
 verandah of the house which Mr. and Mrs. Houghton 
 formerly occupied, and here we held a service, our 
 refugees attending from across the river. I preached 
 from the text, ' I heard a voice from heaven saying 
 unto me, Write, blessed are the dead which die in the 
 Lord,' &c. On Monday we plastered the monument 
 over the grave with pure lime, which gives it a clean 
 and striking appearance, and hope soon to put on it a 
 suitable inscription. We also laid the foundation of a 
 stone mission-house." 
 
 VYMAN BROTHERS AND LILLY, HATTON HOUSE, FARRINGDON EOAD, LONDON, E.C.
 
 A. CROMBIE'S 
 
 atttr 
 
 MEMOIR OF MRS. WAKEFIELD, 
 
 LATE WIFE OF REV. THOMAS WAKEFIELD, MISSIONARY TO EAST AFRICA. 
 
 BY THE REV. R. BREWIN. 
 Crown 8vo. Illustrations. Handsomely bound cloth, gilt edges, 3*. 6<7. 
 
 " Rarely has a more touching story been ottered to the public." Lttdt Mercury. 
 
 " Whoever begins it must read it right through." Wesleyan Methodist Mai. 
 
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 dismissed with a few words." C. H. SPUBGEOH, in Sword and Trowel. 
 
 " Mrs. Wakefield was a choice woman. . . . The scenes of the loss of 
 her child and of her own illness are very touchingly told, and have made the 
 reading of the memoir quite a means of grace to us." C. H. SPURGEOS. 
 Article in Sword, and Trowtl. 
 
 1
 
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 OverSOO, 000 copies of this Author's books have been sold. 
 
 UP THE RHINE if OVER THE ALPS. 
 
 BY S. K. HOCKING, F.R.H.S., author of " Her Benny," " His Father, 
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 HIS FAITH. 
 
 J Siflrg for gonng gUn, 
 
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 Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt edges, 2s. 6d. 
 
 ,-=-C 
 
 
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 <r t Cjtf Sift anfr Jatotirs of tfy |U&. Jfojw Joagjio 
 
 gu jw 
 
 BY REV. R. BREWIN. 
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 10
 
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 11
 
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