72 Seven Years in Central Africa. [April, 
the king and his wives were not above begging and troubling me 
in the meanest way for a small present. At last my things were 
gone, and I had to live as my own boys lived — on porridge and 
corn; and I could only buy a meal at a time, tearing up my 
blankets and sheets, selling them for food, and also my spare 
clothes, etc. Then the begging and pestering ceased ; and those 
who came to my hut did not come to beg and peer into every 
corner to see if I had anything nice that they could ask of me. 
Before, when I used to try to get their attention in conversation, 
every now and then I would be ingeniously interrupted by the 
one miserable request ; but when they found me as poor as them- 
selves, if not much poorer, they came to talk, and perhaps would 
rather bring me a small present than ask for one, and I could 
get their ears and attention without distraction. This world's 
goods may certainly be helpful in furthering the gospel, and may 
be sanctified and accepted by God for that work ; but they also 
can be made a terrible hindrance. My plan now is to live as 
much from hand to mouth as possible, taking up the river only 
as much goods as will keep me for four of five months, sending 
down once or twice in the course of a year to Mr. Westbeech's 
station for fresh supplies, and living on native food, which I hope 
daily to become more accustomed to. 
POVERTY AN ADVANTAGE. 
It was well for the lame man sitting at the door of the temple 
that Peter had neither silver nor gold; so surely it is well for 
these Africans, that he who seeks to bring to them the one price- 
less treasure should not be burdened with what, in comparison, 
is trash and tinsel, serving but to blind their eyes to better and 
heavenly things. Many in South Africa urge the necessity for 
the missionary's going to the " raw " African tribes in the guise 
of a great man, with a large retinue of servants and abundance 
of goods. Then, I have been told, he gets a position in the 
tribe, and his voice is listened to. But surely this is a fatal 
mistake, and far from the Divine pattern. In such a case the 
heathen may easily be brought to believe in the man and his 
goods, and in the hope of improving his social position may 
make a profession of Christianity without having seen or known 
anything of the meek and lowly Jesus. 
