NATIVE RELIGION 
303 
got the life into them beat him altogether, for they were things 
that did not grow from seed. He also touched with some awe 
on our instruments for taking observations, but nothing would 
induce him to favour these with a nearer inspection. Instru¬ 
ments that talked with the skies and the sun he believed in 
because he heard on good authority we used them, but they were 
not fit for men like him to handle or to look at; that was his 
opinion, and he did not care to see them. 
In spite of the veneer of Christianity thinly laid on, it was 
apparent that he was as true a believer in the faith of his fore¬ 
fathers as the rawest native in the country, and just as super¬ 
stitious. How could it possibly be otherwise ? A nation’s faith 
is not changed in one generation, nor in many, in a country 
where the rites of forefathers are instilled, if even in secret, into 
the children’s minds by their mothers, nurses, or companions. 
Tradition is a most powerful factor in transmitting a faith like 
this. The narration of any great deed or event concerning the 
past history of the tribe, including, of course, the opinions of 
oracles consulted at the time, with results that influenced the 
welfare of of the whole nation, must carry a weight that 
it will take more than one generation of missionaries to over¬ 
throw. 
Their religion in itself is really pure and beautiful. The 
worship of the spirits of the dead fathers of the nation, whom 
the younger generation, gathering inspiration from history, 
naturally look upon as the heroes and men who have hitherto 
controlled the national welfare, with a higher Supreme Being 
who sways the destinies of the world, is a comprehensible belief 
capable of getting a firm grasp on the minds of those who find 
it easy to understand the tangible idea left by the memory of 
their fathers as a legacy of belief. The crude analogy to our 
own religion I must leave to those more learned in theological 
matters than myself to analyse and contemplate. 
Moremi also inspected my telescope with many expressions 
of delight, and immediately wished to know if it could not be 
fixed to a gun in such a manner as to shoot the enemy at a 
