and the Mpongwe. 89 
the southern regions, and the wild variety called 
in Sind “ Bang i Jabali.” 
The religion of African races is ever interesting 
to those of a maturer faith; it is somewhat like 
the study of childhood to an old man. The Jew, 
the high-caste Hindu, and the Guebre, the Chris¬ 
tian and the Moslem have their Holy Writs, their 
fixed forms of thought and worship, in fact their 
grooves in which belief runs. They no longer 
THE WATER-PIPE. 
see through a glass darkly ; nothing with them is 
left vague or undetermined. Continuation, resur¬ 
rection, eternity are hereditary and habitual ideas ; 
they have become almost inseparable and con¬ 
genital parts of the mental system. This condition 
renders it nearly as difficult for us to understand 
the vagueness and mistiness of savage and un¬ 
written creeds, as to penetrate into the modus 
agendi of animal instinct. And there is yet 
another obstacle in dealing with such people, 
their intense and childish sensitiveness and secre¬ 
tiveness. They are not, as some have foolishly 
