FAITH AND WORKS. 303 



the senior missionary, Mr. Mackenzie, and also, as he 

 was postmaster, to obtain my letters. My reception 

 was so kind and sincere that I commenced to think that 

 hospitality here exceeded that of all other parts of the 

 earth. However, after enjoying my noon-day meal 

 with my new friend, I returned to the wagon to look 

 after sundry matters that required attention. 



In the evening Mr. Mackenzie, accompanied by Mr. 

 Hepburn, paid me a visit, and we had a long and most 

 delightful chat about our native lands. This pleasure 

 was very great to me, and doubtless it must have been 

 the same to them, for what a life of seclusion is theirs, 

 buried almost in a living tomb ! And all this is endured 

 by these honest, toiling, good men, to carry the gospel 

 to the heathen, and teach its admirable precepts. In 

 both of them I recognised persons carried away by no 

 schisms or creeds, but who exactly corresponded with 

 the couplet 



" For forms and creeds let fools and zealots fight, 

 He scarcely can be wrong whose heart is in the right." 



And in my belief this fact, so vigorously expressed, 

 forms the essence of true religion. I parted with them 

 early, as they had to attend school that night ; but I 

 looked forward to often meeting them again before I 

 left the scene of their labour. 



Mr. Mackenzie is a tall, square-built man, about five 

 feet eleven in height, fair in complexion, genial in 

 countenance, with great strength of character stamped 

 on his brow, and an unmistakable Highlander, speaking 

 the English language with wonderful purity and in- 

 tonation. Mr. Hepburn is taller but slighter, a 

 Northumberland man I should think, with great energy 



