26 LECTURE II. 



themselves tired ; only we had to pay two millions of 

 money, and lost a great many valuable lives as well. That 

 part of the country is mountainous and well watered. The 

 central zone, or Bechuana country, is comparatively dry, 

 being seldom visited by rain ; and its inhabitants, the 

 Bechuanas, Bushmen, and Bakalahari, &c, are not nearly 

 so warlike as the Caffres. Passing towards the West, we 

 come to a level plain called the Kalahari desert, not con- 

 sisting of barren sands, like the generally received notions 

 of deserts, but covered with grass, bushes and trees, and 

 containing a population of Bushmen and other people 

 called the Bakalahari. I lived sixteen years on the borders 

 of the Kalahari desert ; and having gone to the country 

 in 1841, I was naturally anxious to ascertain the effect 

 the teaching of the missionaries had produced. 



I must own that I was disappointed in what I saw, 

 having formed rather sanguine expectations. I forwarded 

 the result of my inquiries to the London Missionary Soci- 

 ety, by whom I was sent out, and after a little time went 

 to the country beyond, where I found the people in just 

 the same state as the missionaries found those I had 

 left ; and when I compared those I had just come amongst 

 with the people with whom I had recently lived, the bene- 

 fit of the missionary teaching then appeared great indeed. 

 True, the African when Christianised is not so elevated as 

 we who have had the advantages of civilization and Chris- 

 tianity for ages ; but still, when rescued from the degradation 

 and superstitions of heathenism, he evinces improvement 



