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The Old Religion and Morals
55

found King Mtesa a heathen, certainly; but he found also that some coast natives, Swahilis or Arabs, had been in the country for some time, and that Mtesa, seeing them praying as Mohammedans, had been inquiring about the God to whom they prayed, and about His laws, and had been introduced to the Koran. He had been impressed with the fact that this religion was a step in advance of his own, and he had almost decided to accept it. So much so, that he had ordered all his important chiefs to be taught by these men, and had even gone so far as to order them to erect little mosques in each of their courtyards, and had told them that they and their people must become Mohammedans. Some of them profess to remain so now. Mtesa was in the position of a man who was very thirsty. He longed for something better than he had, and was like thirsty souls in the desert, who arrive at water, and are not very particular