572 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Britain ? When they are reading this, I shall probably be hundreds of miles 

 away from Mbulu, preaching among another tribe, the Basutos. I hope to 

 return from the Basutos, and go to another tribe, the Galekas, about the end 

 of the year. I entreat your prayers, that the Lord will quicken me mightily 

 for His service, give me utterance by the Holy Ghost, power in prayer, and 

 physical strength ; for my body is weak, and nothing but the manifest life of 

 Jesus has upheld me so far. Pray for me, my beloved friends, as I do for 

 you, and then I shall hope by and by to have some other news to give you 

 from Africa which will cause you again to praise the Lord." 



" The following additional incidents of missionary work amongst the 

 Caffres, furnished by the Rev. John Davidson, who has just returned from 

 an evangelistic tour among the natives, present a faithful portraiture of the 

 mode in which aggressive missionary work is carried on in South Africa. In 

 giving an account of his work (in which he was assisted by Ishuka and Mr. 

 Robert Balfour), he says : — " In these days of refreshing from the presence 

 of the Lord, when so many are daily being added to the Church of such as 

 shall be saved, and when the tide of Christian life has risen so high as to 

 break every barrier down, we are fondly led to cherish the hope, that ere 

 long the blessed influence will extend in copious measure to the sable tribes 

 of Ham. The accounts of the revival which we read from time to time 

 are very cheering, and beget the secret wish to be in the midst of it for a 

 little, to receive a fresh baptism of the Spirit. In the prosecution of our mis- 

 sion, our visits were principally to those living in valleys and cloughs, diffi- 

 cult of access by waggon or on horse, and were therefore principally travel- 

 ling on foot. The country in this part is very similar to the Highlands of 

 Scotland. We lived among these barbarians six days, teaching and preach- 

 ing the gospel of the kingdom. During that time we visited forty kraals, 

 each having from twenty-five to thirty inhabitants. Everywhere we were 

 well received, our message respectfully listened to, and hospitality shown us 

 of the very best, and somewhat after the style of that shown by Abraham of 

 old to his visitors. 



" In visiting the Caffre in his native, rude, barbarous state, one cannot 

 help observing oftentimes a striking resemblance in their manners and cus- 

 toms to those of the ancient patriarchs — such as killing a kid of the goats on 

 the arrival of strangers ; offering of sacrifice ; practising the rite of circumci- 

 sion ; giving a dowry, like David or Jacob, for a wife ; making the father 

 responsible for the actions of his family, and the son doing all legal actions 

 through the father ; settling all principal questions at the gate of the kraal. 

 As in the case of Job, one special institution is that of comforters, ariving 

 from far and near to soothe those in affliction. 



" Physically, the Caffre is a good specimen of humanity. He has a great 

 idea of honour and dignity about him, and is very intellectual ; but rigidly 



