560 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



their benediction, and follow us with their love and prayers, are not deficient 

 in brain and sense ; and this alleged deficiency is not the cause of their send- 

 ing us. The true Israel must not get ashamed of the warfare with which the 

 great Captain has charged them, by either the irony or the banter of certain 

 literary or even ecclesiastical sceptics. 



" The remarkable and preternatural greed, selfishness, and jealousy of 

 heathen negroes on the west coast also oppose serious obstacles to our work. 

 These ill qualities have split them into these numerous fragments, ever ready 

 to prey upon and oppress one another. And knowing only the outcome of 

 the bad that is in man, they regard strangers with suspicion. Their greed 

 overmasters the consideration of what is obviously for their true advantage. 

 This leads the tribes near the coast, with whom Europeans come into contact, 

 to bar access to those beyond them. It leads them to oppose the advance of 

 missions. Many years ago, the heads of the Efik people declared that they 

 would make war on any tribe farther up the Cross River that should receive 

 us to settle among them. They fancy that the trader will endeavour to 

 follow the missionary, and they are jealous of the barter necessary for the 

 existence of our agents and the on-carrying of our work. Where the British 

 Government rules, religious liberty is secured, as far as Government influence 

 can secure it. But in regions like the one under consideration we must con- 

 ciliate the heathen ; for his opposition cannot be overcome by any other 

 force at the command of the missionaries of Christianity. It might be ex- 

 pected that all officials entrusted with the power of Britain and allowed to 

 wield it, and those who handle her commercial might, should always stand 

 by the cause of the kingdom of God. But we dare not count on this ; we 

 cannot always count on having their sympathies on our side, and therefore 

 the agents of Christian enterprises must be careful what position they take 

 up. 



" The superstitions of Africa are an enormous hindrance to the reception 

 of the truth. These superstitions are of the most puerile character, but they 

 lead to bloodshed and barbarities of a shocking character. 



" Although he cares nothing about the living God, the heathen fancies 

 magical and supernatural power in others, or in some inanimate thing pre- 

 pared by the hands of a professor of the black art. He can furnish you with 

 a charm by which you can shoot a person without any kind of visible missile ; 

 or one which will destroy any person that may attempt to steal the fruit from 

 your tree or the produce from your field, or who may break into your house 

 in your absence. He can prepare what shall preserve life and health, or 

 destroy it. He can discover who has committed a theft, or caused sickness 

 and death. A man belonging to a village near this had to leave it recently 

 to preserve his life. He was accused, along with a man of another village, 

 of having caused the small-pox which recently devastated this region, by 



