On His Return To
Tette, The Doctor Tried Hard To Ransom And Restore The Girl To Her
Parents, And Offered Twice The Value Of A Slave; The Padre Seemed
Willing, But She Could Not Be Found.
This padre was better than the
average men of the country; and, being always civil and obliging,
would probably have restored her gratuitously, but she had been sold,
it might be to the distant tribe Bazizulu, or he could not tell
where.
Custom had rendered his feelings callous, and Chibisa had to
be told that his child would never return. It is this callous state
of mind which leads some of our own blood to quote Scripture in
support of slavery. If we could afford to take a backward step in
civilization, we might find men among ourselves who would in like
manner prove Mormonism or any other enormity to be divine.
We left the ship on the 28th of August, 1859, for the discovery of
Lake Nyassa. Our party numbered forty-two in all - four whites,
thirty-six Makololo, and two guides. We did not actually need so
many, either for carriage or defence; but took them because we
believed that, human nature being everywhere the same, blacks are as
ready as whites to take advantage of the weak, and are as civil and
respectful to the powerful. We armed our men with muskets, which
gave us influence, although it did not add much to our strength, as
most of the men had never drawn a trigger, and in any conflict would
in all probability have been more dangerous to us than the enemy.
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