392 MAKOLOLO AT MASS. Chap. XX. 



replied, " Truly ! they are just like you !" and all tlieir fears 

 seemed to vanish at once, for they went forward amongst the men, 

 and the jolly tars, acting much as the Makololo would have done 

 in similar 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 description of tins 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 rapidly 

 in their estimation, for, whatever they may have surmised before, 

 they now saw that I was respected among my own countrymen, 

 and always afterwards 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 pimple forms of the Protestant worship. 

 But here the frequent genuflexions, changing of positions, burning 

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

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

 of guns, &c, 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 firewood. They sallied forth 



