e, lies.

Dean Stanley was one of many clergymen present, and occupied a seat just
in front of the lectern.

Dr. Moffat began by protesting that he was very nervous, because, having
been accustomed for fifty years or more to speak and teach and preach in
a language altogether different from European, he had contracted a habit
of thinking in that language, and sometimes found it momentarily
difficult to find the exact expression of his thoughts in English.

"If I might," he said, with a touch of dry humour that frequently
lighted up his discourse, "speak to you in the Betchuana tongue I could
get along with ease. However, I will do what I can."

The lecture resolved itself into a quiet, homely, and exceedingly
interesting chat, chiefly about the Betchuanas, with whom Dr. Moffat
longest laboured. When he arrived in the country, early in the present
century, he found the people sunk in the densest ignorance. Unlike most
heathen tribes, they had no idea of a God, no notion of a hereafter.
There was not an idol to be found in all their province, and one the
lecturer's daughter showed to an intelligent leader of the people
excited his liveliest astonishment. He was, indeed, so hopelessly
removed from a state of civilisation that he ridiculed the notion of any
one worshipping a thing made with his own hands.

Dr. Moffat seems to have been, on the whole, kindly received by the
natives, though they could not make out what he wanted there. A special
stumbling-block to them was, how it came to pass that when, as sometimes
happened, he and Mrs Moffat were disrespectfully treated, they did not
retaliate. This was satisfactorily explained to the popular mind by the
assertion of a distinguished member of the community that the foreigners
had run away from their country, and were content to bear any treatment
rather than return to their own people, who would infallibly kill them.

The great difficulty met by Dr. and Mrs. Moffat on the threshold of
their mission was their ignorance of the native language. There were no
interpreters, and there was nothing for it but to grub along, patiently
picking up words as they went. The Betchuanas were willing to teach them
as far as they could, occasionally relieving the monotony of the lesson
by a little joke at the pupils' expense. Once, Dr. Moffat told his
hearers, a sentence was written down on a piece of paper, and he was
instructed to take it to an aged lady, who was to give him somethin