Chap. 1. HIS DESIRE TO CONVERT HIS TRIBE. 15 



comparatively thin, the effect of being addicted to the chase, 

 he became corpulent from want of exercise. He acquired the 

 alphabet on the first day of my residence at Chonuane, and I 

 never went into the town but I was pressed to hear him read 

 some chapters of the Bible. Isaiah was a great favourite with 

 him ; and he was wont to exclaim, " He was a fine man. that 

 Isaiah ; he knew how to speak." 



He seconded my anxiety that his subjects should become 

 converts to Christianity, and said, " Do you imagine these 

 people will ever believe by your merely talking to them ? I 

 can make them do nothing except by thrashing them ; and if 

 you like, I shall call my head-men, and with our whips of 

 rhinoceros-hide we will soon make them all believe together." 

 The idea of using persuasion to subjects, whose opinion he 

 would not have condescended to ask on any other matter, was 

 especially surprising to him. He considered that they ought 

 to be happy to embrace Christianity at his command. During 

 the space of two years and a half he continued to profess to 

 his people his full conviction of its truth, and acted uprightly 

 in all the relations of life. He felt the difficulties of his 

 situation, and often said, " 0, I wish you had come to this 

 country before I was entangled in the meshes of our customs !" 

 In fact, he could not get rid of his superfluous wives without (3) 

 appearing to be ungrateful to their parents, who had done so 

 much for him in his adversity. 



In the hope of inducing others to accept his new faith, he 

 asked me to have family worship in his house. This I did, 

 and by-and-by I was surprised to hear how well he conducted 

 the prayer in his own simple and beautiful style, for he was 

 a thorough master of his language. At this time we were 

 suffering from the effects of a drought, which was ascribed 

 by the natives to Christianity, and none except his family, 

 whom he ordered to attend, came near his meeting. " In 

 former times," said he, "when a chief was fond of hunting, 

 all his people got dogs and became fond of hunting too. If 

 he was fond of dancing or music, all showed a liking to these 

 amusements too. If the chief loved beer, they all rejoiced in 

 strong drink. But in this case it is different. I love the 

 Word of God, and not one of my brethren will join me." 



He continued to make a consistent profession for about 



