230 PSEUDO-CHRISTIANITY. 



minded savage was therefore sadly puzzled, and was often, 

 I thought, inclined to look upon us as a set of humbugs, 

 from this difficulty of separating the bad from the good. 

 "Are your laws and your God so good, that you send 

 teachers to benefit us, and yet you cannot get your own 

 men to obey them?" was the question of a young Kaffir to 

 me, after he had seen a drunken Englishman in the 

 streets of Pietermaritzberg during the day. 



It too frequently happens, that in our eagerness to 

 civilize the savage, as we term it, we but impart to him 

 the vile qualities that are common amongst the white men. 

 The natural equilibrum of the savage mind is thus upset, 

 and only those instructions are retained that agree with 

 the man's own inclination. I once met a Kaffir whose 

 clothes gave evidence of his having lived near white men. 

 When asked to do some work for me, he refused, stating as 

 his reason, that the black man was as good as the white, 

 and he did not think, therefore, one ought to work for the 

 other. He was sitting down at the time drinking and 

 smoking. Upon investigating this case, I found that 

 a missionary, endeavouring to instil religious principles 

 into this savage, and give him a motive for becoming 

 a Christian, had assured him that in the sight of the 

 Creator there was no difference between a black and a 

 white man. This fact was enough for our friend, he 

 jumped at the ofiPer of baptism, answered to the name 

 of Lazarus, professed belief in everything, and sat down 

 with the comfortable idea of being as good as the best 

 white man that he had ever seen. This man, of course, 

 would do more harm than good amongst his fellows ; they 



