The Want, However,
Of Any Form Of Public Worship, Or Of Idols, Or Of Formal Prayers Or Sacrifice,
Make Both Caffres And Bechuanas Appear As Among The Most Godless
Races Of Mortals Known Any Where.
But, though they all possess
a distinct knowledge of a deity and of a future state,
they show so little reverence, and feel so little connection with either,
that it is not surprising that some have supposed them
entirely ignorant on the subject.
At Lotlakani we met an old Bushman
who at first seemed to have no conception of morality whatever;
when his heart was warmed by our presents of meat, he sat by the fire
relating his early adventures: among these was killing five other Bushmen.
"Two," said he, counting on his fingers, "were females, one a male,
and the other two calves." "What a villain you are, to boast of killing
women and children of your own nation! what will God say when you appear
before him?" "He will say," replied he, "that I was a very clever fellow."
This man now appeared to me as without any conscience,
and, of course, responsibility; but, on trying to enlighten him
by further conversation, I discovered that, though he was employing
the word that is used among the Bakwains when speaking of the Deity,
he had only the idea of a chief, and was all the while referring to Sekomi,
while his victims were a party of rebel Bushmen against whom he had been sent.
If I had known the name of God in the Bushman tongue the mistake
could scarcely have occurred.
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