The good people are all weak; they are good because they are not
strong enough to be bad."
Some corn had been taken out of a sack for the horses, and a few grains
lying scattered on the ground, I tried the beautiful metaphor of St.
Paul as an example of a future state. Making a small hole with my finger
in the ground, I placed a grain within it: "That," I said, "represents
you when you die." Covering it with earth, I continued, "That grain will
decay, but from it will rise the plant that will produce a reappearance
of the original form."
Commoro. - "Exactly so; that I understand. But the ORIGINAL grain does
NOT rise again; it rots like the dead man, and is ended; the fruit
produced is not the same grain that we buried, but the PRODUCTION of
that grain: so it is with man - I die, and decay, and am ended; but my
children grow up like the fruit of the grain. Some men have no children,
and some grains perish without fruit; then all are ended."
I was obliged to change the subject of conversation. In this wild naked
savage there was not even a superstition upon which to found a religious
feeling; there was a belief in matter; and to his understanding
everything was MATERIAL. It was extraordinary to find so much clearness
of perception combined with such complete obtuseness to anything ideal.
Giving up the religious argument as a failure, I resolved upon more
practical inquiries.
The Turks had only arrived in the Latooka country in the preceding year.
They had not introduced the cowrie shell; but I observed that every
helmet was ornamented with this species; it therefore occurred to me
that they must find their way into the country from Zanzibar.
In reply to my inquiries, Commoro pointed to the south, from which he
said they arrived in his country, but he had no idea from whence they
came. The direction was sufficient to prove that they must be sent from
the east coast, as Speke and Grant had followed the Zanzibar traders as
far as Karagwe, the 2 degrees S. lat.
Commoro could not possibly understand my object in visiting the Latooka
country; it was in vain that I attempted to explain the intention of my
journey. He said, "Suppose you get to the great lake; what will you do
with it? What will be the good of it? If you find that the large river
does flow from it, what then? What's the good of it?"
I could only assure him, that in England we had an intimate knowledge of
the whole world, except the interior of Africa, and that our object in
exploring was to benefit the hitherto unknown countries by instituting
legitimate trade, and introducing manufactures from England in exchange
for ivory and other productions.
