76 EXPEDITION INTO 



tering' the service of its members, alleg-ing* that they were 

 cnpable of taking* care of themselves. Under so despotic a 

 g'overnment, it is not probable that the Matabili Avill e^^r 

 derive much advantag'e from the exhortations of ministers 

 of the g'ospel^ were they even better disposed to receive 

 them. In lieu of the reverence to which these worthy men 

 were entitled^ and which they would have received from 

 other savag-e tribes, we not unfrequently observed g-roups 

 of both sexes g-azing- in at the windows of the mission- 

 houses as at wild beasts in a menag-erie, with every demon- 

 stration of merriment at the expence of their inmates — 

 behaviour, which the proceeding's on the part of the king* 

 could not fail to induce on that of his subjects. 



