552 
EFFECTS OF THE GOSPEL. 
Chap. XXVII. 
imparted to my mind a painful sense of tlieir extreme degrada¬ 
tion. My own Batoka were much more degraded than the 
Barotse, and more reckless. We had to keep a strict watch, so as 
not to be involved by their thieving from the inhabitants, in whose 
country and power we were. We had also to watch the use they 
made of their tongues, for some within hearing of the villagers 
would say, I broke all the pots of that village,” or, “ I killed a 
man there.” They were eager to recount their soldier deeds, 
when they were in company with the Makololo in former times, as 
a conquering army. They were thus placing us in danger by 
their remarks. I called them together, and spoke to them about 
their folly; and gave them a pretty plain intimation that I 
meant to insist upon as complete subordination as I had secured 
in my former journey, as being necessary for the safety of the 
party. Happily it never was needful to resort to any other 
measm^e for their obedience, as they all believed tliat I would 
enforce it. 
In connection with the low state of the Batoka, I was led to 
think on the people of Kuruman, who were equally degraded and 
equally depraved. There a man scorned to shed a tear. It would 
have been ‘Hlolo,” or transgression. Weeping, such as Dr. Kane 
describes among the Esquimaux, is therefore quite unknown in 
that country. But I have witnessed instances like this: Baba, a 
mighty hunter—the interpreter who accompanied Captain Harris, 
and who was ultimately killed by a rhinoceros—sat listening to 
the gospel in the chm’ch at Kuruman, and the gracious words 
of Christ, made to touch Ins heart, evidently by the Holy Spirit, 
melted him into tears; I have seen him and others sink down to 
the ground weeping. When Baba was lying mangled by the 
furious beast wliich tore liim off his horse, he shed no tear, but 
quietly prayed as long as he was conscious. I had no hand in his 
instruction: if these Batoka ever become like Ihm, and they may, 
the influence that effects it must be divine. 
A very large portion of this quarter is covered with masuka- 
trees, and the ground was so strewed with the pleasant fruit, that 
my men kept eating it constantly, as we marched along. We saw 
a smaller kind of the same tree named Molondo, the fruit of 
which is about the size of marbles, having a tender skin, and shght 
acidity of taste mingled with its sweetness. Another tree which 
