lS 53"54] FROM LINYANTI TO LOANDA. 157 



only the Scottish scene is but a miniature of the much 

 greater and richer landscape before him. At the sight of 

 the mountains he would feel his Highland blood rushing 

 through him, banishing all thoughts of fever and fatigue. 

 If only the blessings of the gospel could be spread among 

 the people, what a glorious land it would become ! Bat 

 alas for the people ! In most cases they were outwardly 

 very repulsive. Never seen without a spear or a club in 

 their hands, the men seemed only to delight in plunder 

 and slaughter, and yet they were utter cowards. Their 

 mouths were full of cursing and bitterness. The execra- 

 tions they poured on each other were incredible. In 

 very wantonness, when they met they would pelt each 

 other with curses, and then perhaps burst into a fit of 

 laughter. The women, like the men, went about in 

 almost total nudity, and seemed to know no shame. So 

 reckless were the chiefs of human life, that a man might 

 be put to death for a single distasteful word ; yet some- 

 times there were exhibitions of very tender feeling. The 

 headman of a village once showed him, with much 

 apparent feeling, the burnt house of a child of his, 

 adding, — " She perished in it, and we have all removed 

 from our own huts and built here round her, in order to 

 weep over her grave." From some of the people he re- 

 ceived great kindness ; others were quite different. Their 

 character, in short, was a riddle, and would need to be 

 studied more. But the prevalent aspect of things was 

 both distressing and depressing. If he had thought of it 

 continually he would have become the victim of melan- 

 choly. It was a characteristic of his large and buoyant 

 nature, that, besides having the resource of spiritual 

 thought, he was able to make use of another divine cor- 

 rective to such a tendency, to find delightful recreation 

 in science, and especially in natural history, and by this 

 means turn the mind away for a time from the dark 

 scenes of man's depravity. 



