6 A.M. 59 deg. 65 deg. min. 55 deg.  Noon. 67 deg. 77 deg. shady. 3 P.M. 69 deg. 81 deg. cloudy. 5 P.M. 65 deg. 75 deg. cloudy.

10th July, 1872.—­No great difficulty would be encountered in establishing a Christian Mission a hundred miles or so from the East Coast.  The permission of the Sultan of Zanzibar would be necessary, because all the tribes of any intelligence claim relationship, or have relations with him; the Banyamwezi even call themselves his subjects, and so do others.  His permission would be readily granted, if respectfully applied for through the English Consul.  The Suaheli, with their present apathy on religious matters, would be no obstacle.  Care to speak politely, and to show kindness to them, would not be lost labour in the general effect of the Mission on the country, but all discussion on the belief of the Moslems should be avoided; they know little about it.  Emigrants from Muscat, Persia, and India, who at present possess neither influence nor wealth, would eagerly seize any formal or offensive denial of the authority of their Prophet to fan their own bigotry, and arouse that of the Suaheli.  A few now assume an air of superiority in matters of worship, and would fain take the place of Mullams or doctors of the law, by giving authoritative dicta as to the times of prayer; positions to be observed; lucky and unlucky days; using cabalistic signs; telling fortunes; finding from the Koran when an attack may be made on any enemy, &c.; but this is done only in the field with trading parties.  At Zanzibar, the regular Mullams supersede them.

No objection would be made to teaching the natives of the country to read their own languages in the Roman character.  No Arab has ever attempted to teach them the Arabic-Koran, they are called guma, hard, or difficult as to religion.  This is not wonderful, since the Koran is never translated, and a very extraordinary desire for knowledge would be required to sustain a man in committing to memory pages and chapters of, to him, unmeaning gibberish.  One only of all the native chiefs, Monyumgo, has sent his children to Zanzibar to be taught to read and write the Koran; and he is said to possess an unusual admiration of such civilization as he has seen among the Arabs.  To the natives, the chief attention of the Mission should be directed.  It would not be desirable, or advisable, to refuse explanation to others; but I have avoided giving offence to intelligent Arabs, who have pressed me, asking if I believed in Mohamad by saying, “No I do not:  I am a child of Jesus bin Miriam,” avoiding anything offensive in my tone, and often adding that Mohamad found their forefathers bowing down to trees and stones, and did good to them by forbidding idolatry, and teaching the worship of the only One God.  This, they all know, and it pleases them to have it recognised.