CAMPBELL. 219 



felicity of the primitive ages. There was, indeed, as not un- 

 ftequently happens in uncivilized life, a courteous, kind, 

 and friendly spirit towards one another. But between 

 neighbouring tribes the enmity is as deadly, and the laws 

 and practices of war as barbarous, as among the rudest of 

 African hordes. The missionary, with the view of paving 

 the way for religious instruction, having asked one of them 

 what was the chief end of man, received an immediate an- 

 swer, " For commandos," — the term by which they express 

 their raids or forays undertaken for the purpose of stealing 

 cattle. With the profit of carrying off the herds, they seek 

 also to combine the glory of killing the warriors to whom 

 they belong. The number of men whom they have slain 

 forms their chief boast ; in which estimate they reckon one 

 white equal to two blacks. 



In 1820, Mr. Campbell, supported by the Missionary So- 

 ciety, undertook another journey into this district of Africa. 

 He found the Christian establishment at Lattakoo in a 

 somewhat flourishing state. There was a chapel capable 

 of containing about 400 persons, and a row of good houses 

 with gardens for the missionaries. But the friendly con- 

 duct of the natives towards that body had not been accom- 

 panied with any disposition to embrace, or even to listen to 

 their doctrines. The Boshuanas, more perhaps than any 

 other barbarians, seem to labour under" a peculiar thraldom 

 to the senses, and an utter disregard for all lofty and spi- 

 ritual ideas. Beads for ornament, cattle for use, com- 

 mandos or forays for the display of valour and activity, ab- 

 sorb their whole attention, and leave no room for any 

 higher objects. The number assembled to see the mis- 

 sionaries dine was three times greater than could ever be 

 induced to convene to hear them preach. 



At Lattakoo Mr. Campbell met Kossie, king or chief of 

 Mashow, and obtained permission to visit him, which, 

 though expressed in rather cold and haughty terms, his zeal 

 induced him to embrace. The road lay through a delight- 

 ful country, consisting neither, like most parts of the Cape 

 territory, of a naked desert, nor, like some others, of an im- 

 penetrable forest, but of a boundless meadow of luxuriant 

 pasture, interspersed with numerous clumps of trees, ap- 

 pearing at a distance like a continued wood, but gradually 

 opening as he approached hese fertile plains are 



