602 SUNDAY AT SIEERA LEONE. Chap. XXIX. 



up like the tender grass after rain. It was the fact of Bishop 

 Mackenzie's grappling in the true missionary spirit with 

 the gigantic evil of the country, and affording a home and 

 shelter to the oppressed, that gave him so soon the con- 

 fidence of the people. In every case the means of amelio- 

 ration must be adapted to the special circumstances of the 

 people. Charity must adopt every effort that charity can 

 devise to rouse the slothful, civilize the brutal, instruct the 

 ignorant, and preach the Gospel of love and mercy to all. 



With respect to the results already obtained by the labours 

 of Missionaries, we have been led to the discovery of some 

 very curious and unexpected facts. Having visited Sierra 

 Leone and some other parts of the West Coast, as well as 

 a great part of South Africa, we were very much gratified by 

 the evidences of success which came under our own personal 

 observation. The crowds of well-dressed, devout, and intel- 

 ligent-looking worshippers, in both the West and South, 

 formed a wonderful contrast to the same people still in their 

 heathen state. At Sierra Leone, Kuruman, and other places, 

 the Sunday, for instance, seemed as well observed as it is 

 anywhere in Scotland. The sight produced an indelible 

 impression on the mind, that England had done an amount 

 of good by her philanthropy that will be recognised and 

 appreciated by posterity. Had we not previously been in- 

 timately acquainted by long personal intercourse with the 

 people at Kuruman, who have enjoyed nearly half a century of 

 Mr. Moffat's missionary labours, and had we not known the 

 state of mind of the stock from which all his converts had 

 been drawn, we might have been misled, and have given a 

 lower value to the appearances presented than they deserved. 

 But we have had ample opportunities of forming an estimate 

 of the amount of real Christianity among professing converts ; 

 and we are satisfied from observation and inquiry that the 

 assertion of Captain Burton that Mohammedans alone make 

 proselytes in Africa is not correct ; and we believe that in 



