242 LIVINGSTONE AND GUn/T. 



poor companions, and hearing bitter impure words jarring 

 on the ear in the perfection of the scenes of nature, and a 

 longing that both their hearts and ours might be brought 

 into harmony with the Great Father of Spirits. I pointed 

 out, in, as usual, the simplest words I could employ, the 

 remedy which God has presented to us, in the inexpres- 

 sibly precious gift of His own Son, on whom the Lord 

 " laid the iniquity of us all." The great difficulty in 

 dealing with these people is to make the subject plain. 

 The minds of the auditors cannot be understood by one 

 who has not mingled much with them. They readily pray 

 for the forgiveness of sins, and then sin again ; confess 

 the evil of it, and there the matter ends. 



I shall not often advert to their depravity. My practice 

 has always been to apply the remedy with all possible 

 earnestness, but never allow my own mind to dwell on 

 the dark shades of men's characters. I have never been 

 able to draw pictures of guilt, as if that could awaken 

 Christian sympathy. The evil is there. But all around 

 in this fair creation are scenes of beauty, and to turn from 

 these to ponder on deeds of sin, cannot promote a healthy 

 state of the faculties. I attribute much of the bodily 

 health I enjoy to following the plan, adopted by most 

 physicians, who, while engaged in active, laborious efforts 

 to assist the needy, at the same time follow the delightful 

 studies of some department of natural history. The 

 human misery and sin we endeavour to alleviate and cure, 

 may be likened to the sickness and impurity of some of 

 the back slums of great cities. One contents himself by 

 ministering to the sick and trying to remove the causes, 

 without remaining longer in the filth than is necessary for 

 his work ; another, equally anxious for the public good, 

 stirs up every cesspool, that he may describe its reeking 

 vapours, and, by long contact with impurities, becomes 

 himself infected, sickens, and dies. 



The men went about during the day, and brought 

 back wild fruits of several varieties, which I had not 

 hitherto seen. One, called mogametsa, is a bean with a 

 little pulp round it, which tastes like sponge-cake ; 

 another, named mawa, grows abundantly on a low bush. 

 There are many berries and edible bulbs almost every- 

 where. The mamosho or moshomosho, and milo (a 

 medlar), were to be found near our encampment. These 

 are both good, if indeed one can be a fair judge who felt 



