That notice will bring him fast enough; not but
that he well knows you are here, and has known that you have been in his
country long ago."

"It will be as well, after the information you have given us," said Mr.
Swinton.

"What is your opinion of the Caffres, Mr. S., now that you have resided
so long with them?"

"They are, for heathens, a fine nation,--bold, frank, and, if any thing
is confided to them, scrupulously honest; but cattle-stealing is
certainly not considered a crime among them, although it is punished as
one. Speaking as a minister of the Gospel, I should say they are the
most difficult nation to have any thing to do with that it ever has been
my lot to visit. They have no religion whatever; they have no idols; and
no idea of the existence of a God. When I have talked to them about God,
their reply is, 'Where is he? show him to me.'"

"But have they no superstitions?"

"They believe in necromancy, and have their conjurers, who do much harm,
and are our chief opponents, as we weaken their influence, and
consequently their profits. If cattle are stolen, they are referred to.
If a chief is sick, they are sent for to know who has bewitched him;
they must of course mention some innocent person, who is sacrificed
immediately. If the country is parched from want of rain, which it so
frequently is, then the conjurers are in great demand: they are sent for
to produce rain. If, after all their pretended mysteries, the rain does
not fall so as to save their reputation, they give some plausible
reason, generally ending, however, in the sacrifice of some innocent
individual; and thus they go on, making excuses after excuses until the
rain does fall, and they obtain all the credit of it. I need hardly say
that these people are our greatest enemies."

"Are you satisfied with the success which you have had?"

"Yes, I am, when I consider the difficulty to be surmounted. Nothing but
the Divine assistance could have produced such effects as have already
taken place. The chiefs are to a man opposed to us."

"Why so?"

"Because Christianity strikes at the root of their sensuality; it was
the same when it was first preached by our Divine Master. The riches of
a Caffre consist not only in his cattle, but in the number of his wives,
who are all his slaves. To tell them that polygamy is unlawful and
wrong, is therefore almost as much as to tell them that it is not right
to hold a large herd of cattle; and as the chief