424 MAKOLOLO AT MASS. 



"Truly! they are just like you!" and all their fears seemed to 

 vanish at once, for they went forward among the men, and the. 

 jolly tars, acting much as the Makololo would have done in simi- 

 lar circumstances, handed them a share of the bread and beef 

 which they had for dinner. The commander allowed them to fire 

 off a cannon ; and, having the most exalted ideas of its power, they 

 were greatly pleased when I told them, " That is what they put 

 down the slave-trade with." The size of the brig-of-war amazed 

 them. "It is not a canoe at all; it is a town!" The sailors' 

 deck they named "the Kotla ;" and then, as a climax to their de- 

 scription of this great ark, added, "And what sort of a town is it 

 that you must climb up into with a rope ?" 



The effect of the politeness of the officers and men on their 

 minds was most beneficial. They had behaved with the greatest 

 kindness to me all the way from Linyanti, and I now rose rapid- 

 ly in their estimation ; for, whatever they may have surmised be- 

 fore, they now saw that I was respected among my own country- 

 men, and always afterward treated me with the greatest deference. 



On the 15th there was a procession and service of the mass in 

 the Cathedral ; and, wishing to show my men a place of worship, 

 I took them to the church, which now serves as the chief one 

 of the see of Angola and Congo. There is an impression on some 

 minds that a gorgeous ritual is better calculated to inspire devo- 

 tional feelings than the simple forms of the Protestant worship. 

 But here the frequent genuflexions, changing of positions, burning 

 of incense, with the priests' back turned to the people, the laugh- 

 ing, talking, and manifest irreverence of the singers, with firing 

 of guns, etc. , did not convey to the minds of my men the idea of 

 adoration. I overheard them, in talking to each other, remark 

 that " they had seen the white men charming their demons ;" a 

 phrase identical with one they had used when seeing the Balonda 

 beating drums before their idols. 



In the beginning of August I suffered a severe relapse, which 

 reduced me to a mere skeleton. I was then unable to attend to 

 my men for a considerable time ; but when in convalescence from 

 this last attack, I was thankful to find that I was free from that 

 lassitude which, in my first recovery, showed the continuance of 

 the malaria in the system. I found that my men, without prompt- 

 ing, had established a brisk trade in fire-wood. They sallied forth 



