Chap. IT. STATE OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE. 51 



once admitted ; and as a belief in a Supreme Being, the 

 Maker and Kuler of ail things, and in the continued 

 existence of departed spirits, is universal, it becomes 

 quite appropriate to explain that we possess a Book con- 

 taining a Eevelation of the will of Him to whom in their 

 natural state they recognise no relationship. The fact 

 that His Son appeared among men, and left His words in 

 His Book, always awakens attention ; but the great diffi- 

 culty is to make them feel that they have any relationship 

 to Him, and that He feels any interest in them. The 

 numbness of moral perception exhibited, is often dis- 

 couraging; but the mode of communication, either by 

 interpreters, or by the imperfect knowledge of the lan- 

 guage, which not even missionaries of talent can over- 

 come save by the labour of many years, may, in part, 

 account for the phenomenon. However, the idea of the 

 Father of all being displeased with His children, for 

 selling or killing each other, at once gains their ready 

 assent : it harmonizes so exactly with their own ideas of 

 right and wrong. But, as in our own case at home, 

 nothing less than the instruction and example of many 

 years will secure their moral elevation. 



The dialect spoken here closely resembles that used at 

 Senna and Tette. We understood it at first only enough 

 to know whether our interpreter was saying what we 

 bade him, or was indulging in his own version. After 

 stating pretty nearly what he was told, he had an in- 

 veterate tendency to wind up with " The Book says you 

 are to grow cotton, and the English are to come and buy 

 it," or with some joke of his own, which might have been 

 ludicrous, had it not been seriously distressing. 



In the first ascent of the Shire our attention was 

 chiefly directed to the river itself. The delight of thread- 

 ing out the meanderings of upwards of 200 miles of a 

 hitherto unexplored river must be felt to be appreciated. 



