Each Had A Garden, And A Day Never Passed
Without Permission Being Asked For A Few Hours' Recreation With The
Spade Or Hoe, The Latter Being The Favourite Implement, As The Want Of
Shoes Rendered The Management Of The Spade Extremely Difficult, Except
In Very Light Soil.
I believe that a taste for gardening has a most civilizing influence
among savages; and if I were a missionary, I should commence with such
practical teaching, thus proving in your joint labour with the natives
the principle that industry and peace will create prosperity.
A few extracts front my journal will describe the gradual progress of
the settlement:
"Mr. Higginbotham shot a waterbuck during an exploratory ramble that we
took through the forest, in search of large timber for building
purposes. The main forest begins about two miles from this station, in
which is an unlimited supply of wood, including the most magnificent
tamarind-trees. These beautiful specimens are dotted about the country,
like park timber in England. There is a tamarind-tree about a mile from
this station, beneath which about a thousand cattle might find
shade. (It must be remembered that the Bari cattle are very small.)
"There is a native, named Tomby, who speaks excellent Arabic. This
fellow has been twice to Khartoum, and he wears clothes, instead of
walking about in a state of absolute nudity like his countrymen. He has
an excellent rifle that was given to him by his old master, a French
trader, Monsieur Bartholome.
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