378 A JOURNEY IN 
African Society in London for the propagation of the gospel 
among the heathen. How far the subjects of faith, of re- 
generation, of the Trinity and other mystical doctrines, can 
consistently be preached with advantage, either temporal or 
spiritual, to a race of men the most savage and the most 
miserable perhaps on the face of the earth, the missionaries 
themselves ought to be the best judges ; but from their own 
account of them it would appear that their zeal is wofully 
misapplied, and that the benevolent intentions of the so- 
ciety at home, after an enormous expence, can only end 
in disappointment. The condition, indeed, of the poor 
wretches which compose the congregation of these mis^ 
sionaries is such as to require worldly comforts rather than 
spiritual consolation. " They take no great care of their 
*' children," says Mr. Kicherer, " and never correct them 
" except in a fit of rage, when they almost kill them by se- 
" vere usage. In a quarrel between father and mother, or- 
" the several wives of a husband, the defeated party wreaks 
" his or her vengeance on the child of the conqueror, which 
" in general loses its life. The Bosjesmans will kill their 
*' children without remorse on various occasions, as when 
" they are ill-shaped, when they are in want of food, when 
" the father of a child has forsaken its mother, or when 
** obliged to fly from the boors or others ; in which case thej 
" will strangle them, smother them, cast them aAvay in the 
" desert, or bury them alive. There are instances of parents 
" throwing their tender offspring to the hungry lion, who 
" stands roaring before their cavern, refusing to depart till 
*^ some peace-offering be made to him. They also frequently 
** forsake their aged relations, leaving the old person Avith a 
