552 EFFECTS OF THE GOSPEL. Chap. XXVII. 



imparted to my mind a painful sense of their extreme degrada- 

 tion. My own Batoka were niuch more degraded than the 

 Barotse, and more reckless. We had to keep a strict watch, so as 

 not to be involved by their thieving from the inhabitants, in whose 

 country and power we were. We had also to watch the use they 

 made of their tongues, for some within hearing of the villagers 

 would say, " I broke all the pots of that village," or, " I killed a 

 man there." They were eager to recount their soldier deeds, 

 when they were in company with the Makololo in former times, as 

 a conquering army. They were thus placing us in danger by 

 their remarks. I called them together, and spoke to them about 

 their folly ; and gave them a pretty plain intimation that I 

 meant to insist upon as complete subordination as I had secured 

 in my former journey, as being necessary for the safety of the 

 party. Happily it never was needful to resort to any other 

 measure for their obedience, as they all believed that I would 

 enforce it. 



In connection with the low state of the Batoka, I was led to 

 think on the people of Kuruman, who were equally degraded and 

 equally depraved. There a man scorned to shed a tear. It would 

 have been " tlolo," or transgression. Weeping, such as Dr. Kane 

 describes among the Esquimaux, is therefore quite unknown in 

 that country. But I have witnessed instances like this : Baba, a 

 mighty hunter — the interpreter who accompanied Captain Harris, 

 and who was ultimately killed by a rhinoceros — sat listening to 

 the gospel in the church at Kuruman, and the gracious words 

 of Christ, made to touch his heart, evidently by the Holy Spirit, 

 melted him into tears ; I have seen him and others sink down to 

 the ground weeping. When Baba was lying mangled by the 

 furious beast which tore him off his horse, he shed no tear, but 

 quietly prayed as long as he was conscious. I had no hand in his 

 instruction : if these Batoka ever become like liiin, and they may, 

 the influence that effects it must be divine. 



A very large portion of this quarter is covered with masuka- 

 trees, and the ground was so strewed with the pleasant fruit, that 

 my men kept eating it constantly, as we marched along. We saw 

 a smaller kind of the same tree named Molondo, the fruit of 

 which is about the size of marbles, having a tender skin, and slight 

 acidity of taste mingled with its sweetness. Another tree which 



