Alexander Mackay, Missionary Hero of Uganda by Anon and published by Classics.
It was in the early part of 1876 that I made the acquaintance of Alexander Mackay, when, having offered for the mission to Uganda, I went up to London to meet those who were to be my fellow-missionaries in the ‘Dark Continent.’ He sailed before me to Zanzibar, but we met again there for a short time. Then I left the coast with our first caravan, and a long time was to elapse before we were to see each other again.
Two years passed; Lieutenant Smith and Mr. O'Neill had been murdered in December 1877, when in the summer of 1878, having been nearly a year alone in Uganda, I heard from Mackay that he was sending up some stores to Kagei (at the southern end of the Nyanza) in charge of a native. Mtesa allowed me to go to meet this man, and after a voyage of more than a month in native canoes, one evening a point near Kagei came in sight. The canoe-men were weary, and wanted to stop for the night where we were; ‘it was too. far,’ ‘it was getting dark,’ ‘they did not know the way.’ I over- came their scruples, took a paddle and guided the canoes. It was pitch dark when we reached the place. Firing two shots (our recognised signal) to announce our arrival, we turned the canoes land-wards, and as soon as they grounded on the beach I sprang ashore. I asked the first man I met if any one had come from the coast. Yes, a white man had come. In another minute I had grasped Mackay’s hand ; he had come himself instead of sending. We went up to his hut; he had letters for me from home, and each had much to tell the other. The hours flew by unheeded, and the cockerels began to crow and the grey dawn appeared in the east before we retired to rest...
— From the Preface
