ar.

"God will go with you and keep you," she said. "Try and find out some
one who preaches the Gospel and keep near him."

On the fly-leaf of a Bible she gave one of them, she wrote:

_Ud[:o] Ekpenyo[~n] Edikpo._

_Trusting he will hold by the truths of this Holy Book when in
the midst of strangers he may be exposed to temptation. Never
forget prayer when reading.--Your friend_,

M. SLESSOR.

"This book," she told Ud[:o], "will be a lamp to you and guide you."

These young men returned none the worse for their exile.

The boys who wanted to be good had more to put up with than those at
home. At Ikpe there was an _mbre_, or play, called _ekang_, and all
young men had to join it and pay a fee of L10. Those who would not were
fined ten rods, some fish, some leaves called _akan_, and two jars of
palm wine, and had to appear in the street and dance backwards to the
beat of the drum, and then were flogged and hounded to their homes. This
custom Ma put down.

Once the chiefs gave orders that all men were to hunt in the bush, and
the animals caught were to be sacrificed and eaten in honour of the
_Ndems_ in the town. The lads of the Church refused to go to the hunt or
to eat of the sacrifice. "Then," said the chiefs, "you will be
banished." Word was sent to Ma, who was at Use, and when she came she
told the chiefs that no lad must be forced to do anything against his
conscience, and from that day to this there has been neither hunt nor
sacrifice.

[Illustration: A TOWN _NDEM_.]

The people sacrificed and ate animals before the _Ndems_, because they
believed that it would make the yams on their farms grow big. Ma said
God alone gave them such a blessing, and that the children of the Church
could no longer follow the custom. It was not long before the custom was
stopped.

She was very far out of the world, and seldom saw a white face. How
glad she was when Mr. Bowes from Calabar appeared. They walked together
from Ikpe to Odoro Ikpe. On the road she stopped and helped a woman to
lift a very heavy load of palm nuts to her head. Then she went into the
compound of an old chief who was ill, found out what was the matter, and
arranged to send him medicine. At the entrance were three white chickens
with their heads cut off. "It is a sacrifice," she said. "Oh, the pity
of it." On going up the steep hill Mr. Bowes wanted to carry a bag she
had slung over