ABSTRACT
IN the present chapter we propose giving some idea of the kind of life a missionary must lead in a place like Ribe. Ribe, as will have been learned from what has been said already, is one of the many districts into which Unika is divided. It is not one of the largest of them, nor is it one of the most thickly-populated portions of this thinly-peopled land; and it is not therefore, so far, avery eligible field for missionary work. The tribe, however, has been in the past a very important one, distinguished for its superior wisdom in council, and its prowess in war; at least so the people themselves say, and it is allowed to them on all hands. A little of the prestige arising out of these circumstances remains to them yet. Then the position of the tribe is a central one. It possesses the advantage, too, of being within easy reach of Mombasa, half of the distance being accomplished by boat, up to the creek already described. Moreover the people, though they have other objectionable traits, are unusually good-natured, hearty, and hospitable. They appear to have received Dr. Krapf with open arms, and to have produced an impression upon that gentleman’s mind that they would become an easy trophy of evangelical and civilizing influences. The doctor therefore pitched his tent among them; and so it has happened that we have this chapter to write.
