BLACK AND WHITE. 257 



in future, with a kindness and simplicity that were very 

 beautiful. 



This proceeding is nearly a type of what takes place in 

 civilization, where it frequently happens that a man is 

 politely sneered at because he is unacquainted with the 

 slang or local joke of some particular clique, or does 

 not submissively follow the habits and fashions of the 

 reigning set. Human nature, whether black, red, or 

 white, is very much alike all over the world ; each to the 

 unseasoned eye has its special peculiarities and prominent 

 points of ridicule, and I doubt whether a Zulu chief and 

 umfazij with their scanty attire of strips of skins and bead 

 and feather ornaments, would produce more ridicule were 

 they to walk up Regent-street, than would an English 

 gentleman fashionably attired, or a lady with looped and 

 festooned dress and embroidered under-garment, at the 

 court of Kaffirland. 



In every land and in every society, men are found 

 who think they raise themselves, or show that they 

 have unlimited penetration, by trying to cast disbelief 

 on the statements of others, and thus endeavour to 

 prove that they themselves are very wise men. Now, 

 I would sooner be what is vulgarly called humbugged 

 half a dozen times, by some man relating to me a 

 falsehood, after assuring me he was merely telling the 

 truth, than I would once cast disbelief on a true state- 

 ment. In the first case, the sin is on the relater ; and 

 we merely believed him to be a truth-teller when he was 

 in reality a liar. But in the second case we expose our 

 ignorance, by often thinking that impossible which really 



