720 THE AUTHOR'S OBJECTS. 



that a vessel by going thither would return laden with ivory and 

 gold-dust. The Portuguese of Tete pick up all the merchandise 

 of the tribes in their vicinity, and, though I came out by trav- 

 ersing the people with whom the Portuguese have been at war, 

 it does not follow that it will be perfectly safe for others to go in 

 whose goods may be a stronger temptation to cupidity than any 

 thing I possessed. When we get beyond the hostile population 

 mentioned, we reach a very different race. On the latter my 

 chief hopes at present rest. All of them, however, are willing 

 and anxious to engage in trade, and, while eager for this, none 

 have ever been encouraged to cultivate the raw materials of 

 commerce. Their country is well adapted for cotton ; and I 

 venture to entertain the hope that by distributing seeds of better 

 kinds than that which is found indigenous, and stimulating the 

 natives to cultivate it by affording them the certainty of a market 

 for all they may produce, we may engender a feeling of mutual 

 dependence between them and ourselves. I have a twofold 

 object in view, and believe that, by guiding our missionary la- 

 bors so as to benefit our own country, we shall thereby more 

 effectually and permanently benefit the heathen. Seven years 

 were spent at Kolobeng in instructing my friends there ; but 

 the country being incapable of raising materials for exportation, 

 when the Boers made their murderous attack and scattered the 

 tribe for a season, none sympathized except a few Christian 

 friends. Had the people of Kolobeng been in the habit of rais- 

 ing the raw materials of English commerce, the outrage would 

 have been felt in England ; or, what is more likely to have been 

 the case, the people would have raised themselves in the scale by 

 barter, and have become, like the Basutos of Moshesh and people 

 of Kuruman, possessed of fire-arms, and the Boers would never 

 have made the attack at all. We ought to encourage the Afri- 

 cans to cultivate for our markets, as the most effectual means, 

 next to the Gospel, of their elevation. 



It is in the hope of working out this idea that I propose the 

 formation of stations on the Zambesi beyond the Portuguese 

 territory, but having communication through them with the 

 coast. A chain of stations admitting of easy and speedy inter- 

 course, such as might be formed along the flank of the eastern 

 ridge, would be in a favorable position for carrying out the 



