Pioneering in the Congo by William Holman Bentley

William Holman Bentley was one of the first missionaries to serve with the Baptist Missionary Society in the Congo. He worked on a Dictionary and Grammar of the Kongo Language (published in 1887, butstill in use today) and translated the New Testament and portions of the New Testament. My thanks to the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide for making a set of these copiously illustrated public domain books available for digitisation. The number of pictures explains the larger than usual size of the files.

William Holman Bentley [1855-1905], Pioneering on the Congo, 2 Vols. London: The Religious Tract Society, 1900. Hbk. pp.478+448. [Click to visit the download page for this title]

Contents – Volume 1

• Preface

1. Ancient History: 1484-1670
2. The Old Slaving Days: 1670-1877
3. The Inception of the Mission: 1877-8
4. Congo-wards: 1879
5. The Establistment of the Mission: 1879
6. Developments at San Salvador and Explorations Therefore: 1879-80
7. The Congo Basin and its Inhabitants; The Kongo Language
8. Religion: The Knowledge of God, and Fetishism
9. The Opposition Outflanked; Stanley Pool reached: 1881
10. Development of the New Route to the Upper River: 1881-2

Contents – Volume 2

1. The Transport of the Peace to Stanley Pool: 1883
2. Exploration of the Upper River: 1884-6
3. New Stations on the Upper River: 1886-90
4. Progress on the Upper River: 1890-9
5. Development in the Cataract Region: 1887-99
6. Other Missions on the Congo
7. The Government of the Congo Free State

Appendices

• Congo Missionaries
• The Lord’s Prayer in Eight of the Kongo Languages and Dialects
• Malarial Fever, its Genesis and Effect
• Index