HEATHENISM. 211 



all, including the chief, were as kind and attentive to me 

 as possible, and there was no want of food (oxen being 

 slaughtered daily, sometimes ten at a time, more than 

 sufficient for the wants of all), yet to endure the dancing, 

 roaring, and singing, the jesting, anecdotes, grumbling, 

 quarrelling, and murdering of these children of nature, 

 seemed more like a severe penance than anything I had 

 before met with in the course of my missionary duties. 

 I took thence a more intense disgust at heathenism than 

 I had before, and formed a greatly elevated opinion of 

 the latent effects of missions in the south, among tribes 

 which' are reported to have been as savage as the Mako- 

 lolo. The indirect benefits, which to a casual observer 

 He beneath the surface and are inappreciable, in reference 

 to the probable wide diffusion of Christianity at some 

 future time, are worth all the money and labour that 

 have been expended to produce them. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



IviNYANTi, September, 1853. — The object proposed to the 

 Makololo seemed so desirable, that it was resolved to 

 proceed with it, as soon as the cooling influence of the 

 rains should be felt in November. The longitude and 

 latitude of Linyanti (lat. 18 17' 20" S., long. 23 ° 50' 9" K.) 

 showed that St. Philip de Benguela was much nearer 

 to us than I,oanda ; and I might have easily made arrange- 

 ments with the Mambari to allow me to accompany them 

 as far as Bihe, which is on the road to that port ; but it 

 is so undesirable to travel in a path once trodden by slave- 

 traders, that I preferred to find out another line of march. 



Accordingly, men were sent at my suggestion to examine 

 all the country to the west, to see if any belt of country, 

 free from tsetse, could be found to afford us an outlet. 

 The search was fruitless. The town and district of 

 Linyanti are surrounded by forests infested by this 

 poisonous insect, except at a few points, as that by which 

 we entered at Sanshureh and another at Sesheke. But 

 the lands both east and west of the Barotse valley are 



