xx PREFATORY LETTER. 



turnings, and our spirit-rappings, and our purblind acceptance 

 of the worst impostures of clairvoyance. The follies and sins 

 of civilised men are, from pure shame, partly trimmed and 

 coloured in a way to conceal or lessen their deformity, and 

 partly hidden in darkness : but the faults of the poor savage 

 stand out in full relief and in the light of day. 



A good lesson, I repeat, may be drawn from the pages of 

 Livingstone — not from those only which tell us of the fidelity 

 and the honesty and the kindness of the poor African ; but 

 those also which tell us of his faults and follies. Ignorant 

 and degraded as he is, he is still our Brother, and the child 

 of the great God who made us. If this be so, cold must be 

 the heart and stunted the faith of that Christian man, who 

 can believe that the glorious promises of the Gospel have no 

 application to one quarter of the world, and that the " Sun 

 of righteousness " is never meant to shine on the dark portions 

 of benighted Africa. 



Before I go on, let me quote a few lines from one of 

 the golden pages of Dr Livingstone. Describing his ascent 

 through the Barotse valley he tells us, " that the welkin rings 

 with the singing of birds, which is not so delightful as the 

 notes of birds at home, because I have not been familiar with 

 them from infancy. The notes here, however, strike the mind 

 by their loudness and variety, as the wellings forth from 

 joyous hearts of praise to Him who fills them with overflowing 

 gladness. All of us rise early to enjoy the luscious balmy air 

 of the morning. We then have worship ; but amidst all the 

 beauty and loveliness with which we are surrounded there is 

 still a feeling of want in the soul in viewing one's poor com- 

 panions, and hearing their bitter impure words jarring on 

 the ear in the perfection of the scenes of nature ; and a longing 

 that both their hearts and ours might be brought into har- 

 mony with the Great Father of Spirits. I pointed out, in 

 the simplest words I could employ, the remedy which God 

 had presented to us in the inexpressibly precious gift of His 



