AFRICAN EPISCOPAL MISSIONS
Bishop Payne, in a report, refers to the Bassa country in Liberia; and, as we are arranging
for Missions in that region, we insert what he says respecting it:
From the place at which I write, to Monrovia, on one side, and Sinoe, on the other, and as
far as knowledge or conjecture reach towards the interior, if we except one station, maintained
by the Baptists, by Mr. Von
В
run, on the St. John’s, I can hear of not one regular Missionary
post.
But the country is all open, all accessible, while the blue, beautiful mountains of Dja and
Junk, coming almost down to the coast, invite us to ascend their elevated summits, and thence,
invigorated by the breath of Heaven, to dispense life to the dead masses of heathenism, around,
below, beyond.
Hitherto our attention has been directed to the Dja mountains, as being the highest in the
neighborhood; but inquiry and observation of late have inclined me to question if, on the head
waters of the Mecklin River, we may not find a more eligible position for our first Missionary
station amongst the natives of this region. The Mecklin, as you are perhaps aware, comes down
from a northerly direction, and empties into the St. John’s, a few miles above the mouth of the
latter river. Though comparatively small, it is navigable for boats and canoes much farther than
the St. John’s, according to some, eighty or ninety miles. Though its mouth abounds in
mangroves, it comes down from a range of mountains parallel with the Dja, and is navigable to
the very base of those mountains. This last fact is important; but what is still more so is, that
whereas the natives, according to Mr. Rambo, and all parties consulted on the subject, are very
sparsely settled about the Dja, about the head of the Mecklin they are very numerous, friendly,
and anxious for Missionary teachers.
Thursday, April 29lh — According to previous arrangements, on Monday, 10 o’clock, I
left Dr. Smith’s comfortable and hospitable abode, for a tour of exploration up the Mecklin
River. I was accompanied by Mr. McMorine and Rev. G.W. Gibson. We found the river far
more considerable than was anticipated, but very tortuous and rapid, supplied by mountains at no
great distance; it rises very high, sometimes thirty feet, and falls suddenly. Though at low water
it is obstructed by fallen trees and rapids, it is navigable for canoes, by its windings, sixty miles
at all seasons of the year, and to within ten miles of the Fatru mountains. In our ascent, to the
distance of forty miles, though the rains have not yet fully commenced, we were not once
stopped by obstructions; on our return, however, the river having fallen, we once struck on a
sunken tree, and observed five rapids. I have said the river is navigable sixty miles; I should
rather have said, the Liberian trader ascend so far in canoes; but it has never been explored. At
the point where navigation now stops it is still a large stream, and continues to be so for three
days more, towards the north-east, according to the testimony of Liberians who have traveled in
that direction. Owing to the rapid current, we were two days in ascending to Kpaure, distant
forty miles, by the windings of the river from Buchanan, though in a direct line not over thirty.
We returned on the third day in six hours.