s and ours might be brought into harmony
with the Great Father of Spirits. I pointed out, in, as usual, the
simplest words I could employ, the remedy which God has presented to
us, in the inexpressibly precious gift of His own Son, on whom the Lord
"laid the iniquity of us all." The great difficulty in dealing with
these people is to make the subject plain. The minds of the auditors
can not be understood by one who has not mingled much with them. They
readily pray for the forgiveness of sins, and then sin again; confess
the evil of it, and there the matter ends.

I shall not often advert to their depravity. My practice has always been
to apply the remedy with all possible earnestness, but never allow my
own mind to dwell on the dark shades of men's characters. I have never
been able to draw pictures of guilt, as if that could awaken Christian
sympathy. The evil is there. But all around in this fair creation are
scenes of beauty, and to turn from these to ponder on deeds of sin can
not promote a healthy state of the faculties. I attribute much of the
bodily health I enjoy to following the plan adopted by most physicians,
who, while engaged in active, laborious efforts to assist the needy,
at the same time follow the delightful studies of some department of
natural history. The human misery and sin we endeavor to alleviate and
cure may be likened to the sickness and impurity of some of the back
slums of great cities. One contents himself by ministering to the sick
and trying to remove the causes, without remaining longer in the filth
than is necessary for his work; another, equally anxious for the public
good, stirs up every cesspool, that he may describe its reeking vapors,
and, by long contact with impurities, becomes himself infected, sickens,
and dies.

The men went about during the day, and brought back wild fruits of
several varieties, which I had not hitherto seen. One, called mogametsa,
is a bean with a little pulp round it, which tastes like sponge-cake;
another, named mawa, grows abundantly on a low bush. There are many
berries and edible bulbs almost every where. The mamosho or moshomosho,
and milo (a medlar), were to be found near our encampment. These are
both good, if indeed one can be a fair judge who felt quite disposed to
pass a favorable verdict on every fruit which had the property of being
eatable at all. Many kinds are better than our crab-apple or sloe, and,
had they the care and culture these have