ing Lions--Poisons--The solitary Hill--A picturesque
Valley--Beauty of the Country--Arrive at the Sanshureh River--The
flooded Prairies--A pontooning Expedition--A night Bivouac--The Chobe--
Arrive at the Village of Moremi--Surprise of the Makololo at our sudden
Appearance--Cross the Chobe on our way to Linyanti.

The Bakalahari, who live at Motlatsa wells, have always been very
friendly to us, and listen attentively to instruction conveyed to them
in their own tongue. It is, however, difficult to give an idea to a
European of the little effect teaching produces, because no one can
realize the degradation to which their minds have been sunk by centuries
of barbarism and hard struggling for the necessaries of life: like most
others, they listen with respect and attention, but, when we kneel down
and address an unseen Being, the position and the act often appear
to them so ridiculous that they can not refrain from bursting into
uncontrollable laughter. After a few services they get over this
tendency. I was once present when a missionary attempted to sing among a
wild heathen tribe of Bechuanas, who had no music in their composition;
the effect on the risible faculties of the audience was such that the
tears actually ran down their cheeks. Nearly all their thoughts are
directed to the supply of their bodily wants, and this has been the case
with the race for ages. If asked, then, what effect the preaching of the
Gospel has at the commencement on such individuals, I am unable to tell,
except that some have confessed long afterward that they then first
began to pray in secret. Of the effects of a long-continued course of
instruction there can be no reasonable doubt, as mere nominal belief
has never been considered sufficient proof of conversion by any body of
missionaries; and, after the change which has been brought about by this
agency, we have good reason to hope well for the future--those I have
myself witnessed behaving in the manner described, when kindly treated
in sickness often utter imploring words to Jesus, and I believe
sometimes really do pray to him in their afflictions. As that great
Redeemer of the guilty seeks to save all he can, we may hope that they
find mercy through His blood, though little able to appreciate the
sacrifice He made. The indirect and scarcely appreciable blessings of
Christian missionaries going about doing good are thus probably not so
despicable as some might imagine; there is no nec