I have already said, that I do not think the Kaffers cruel; but the path of the missionary has difficulties that it is unnecessary to exagge rate he has to temper a zeal for religion, that must be strong, with a caution that does not frequently belong to it; for the people he is among, are naturally suspicious of every thing that comes from a white man: he has to bear "that hope deferred that maketh the heart sick," when he is made to feel how little his efforts avail; when he sees year follow year, while the same wild superstitions continue to hold power over minds that are shut to a milder faith.' pp. 129, 130; 134–141.

It is not writ

On this passage we must make a few remarks. ten in an unamiable or uncandid spirit; yet still, there are in it indications of a worldly scepticism as to the efficacy of Missionary labours, and a sort of unconscious inclination to detract from the merit of self-denial which has been usually ascribed to those who renounce the privileges and comforts of civilized life, to carry the glad tidings of salvation to barbarous heathen nations. In respect to doubts as to the practicability of obtaining any ' useful results from an attempt to explain the mysteries of reli'gion to those whose faculties are bounded by the severity of 'their condition', we may remark, that the Caffers are further advanced in civilization than the Hottentots whom Dr. Vanderkemp collected together at Bethelsdor, or the Griquas with whom Anderson wandered for five years, beyond the Orange River, before he could persuade them to renounce their nomadic and plundering propensities; yet, it will hardly be averred that, in either of these cases, the exertions of the Missionaries were not ultimately crowned with success. The Caffer tribes are not hordes of mere wandering savages, like the New Hollanders or Esquimaux. They are not only herdsmen, but agriculturists; and the quantity of millet and maize raised by them in the time of peace, though cultivated exclusively by the females, is very considerable, and forms no trifling portion of their subsistence through the year. They are also already, in a considerable degree, a settled people; and the ulterior step to their becoming decidedly so, is not so wide nor arduous, as to preclude a reasonable prospect of their being induced, by the example and exhortations of the Missionaries, ere long to take it. In the meanwhile, many of their children are allowed to attend the schools, and a silent progress is making in securing the respect and esteem of the people in general, and thus paving the way for their national conversion to that religion, of which, though they cannot understand the mysteries, they can already in some measure appreciate the blessed fruits, from the labours of love, and the examples of meekness, benevolence, and forbearance, which they can read in living lines', in the walk and conversation of the messengers of Christ. Let Mr. Rose, and such reasoners as he, look to the South Seas, and abjure their unbelief.

Then Mr. Rose must strip from their labours, some of those 'showy appendages on which declamation has exhausted itself.' He did not find the Caffer Missionaries in absolute want of the necessaries of life, or in danger of falling a prey to the wild beasts, or to the fickle ferocity of the savages, or entirely excluded from occasional intercourse with the colony; and therefore, he argues, such privations and perils are never experienced, and the representation of them is mere declamation. But, though he found the Missionaries in pretty comfortable circumstances at the time of his excursion, when perfect tranquillity existed in the country, and a good understanding between these tribes and the Colonial Authorities, would it not have been as well to inquire, whether such had been always and uniformly the case? Had he inquired into the history of the first Missionaries even among the Caffers, mild and good tempered as he found them, and into the perils, privations, and labours of Vanderkemp, and Williams*, and Brownlee, he must have admitted that those 'showy appendages', as he calls them, were somewhat more than empty declamation.' The real fact is, that the security enjoyed both by missionaries and travellers in the present day, among the Caffers and other heathen tribes in Southern Africa, has been gained by the pious intrepidity and good conduct of those devoutly zealous men who first penetrated, with much hazard and privation, into the country; and who, if they have not yet taught the barbarians the mysteries of our religion', have at least taught them practically, that all white men are not (as they had previously but too good cause to infer) robbers and oppressors, but that there are a few who " do justly and love mercy ", and whose professions of good will towards them spring from no interested motives. The very safety with which Mr. Rose himself traversed the Caffer country in all directions, sometimes with only two or three attendants, was in great measure the result of Missionary labours;-and this, if he had sagacity enough to perceive, he ought to have had the candour to acknowledge.

The statements he has given respecting the cruel enormities to which a belief in witchcraft gives occasion among these 'mild and manly savages', furnish addititional evidence (if any were wanting) of the utter absurdity of the once fashionable theory broached by Rousseau,-that savage life is superior to that of civilized man. They furnish melancholy proof too of the striking propriety of the expression in Scripture,-" The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty." These Caffers, or Amakosæ, (the latter is the native appellation,) are, by all accounts, as far as regards physical conformation and

See Dr. Philip's Researches, Vol. II.

natural disposition, one of the finest races of men to be anywhere found: they are at the same time almost totally destitute of any glimmerings of religious belief. According to the theories of infidel philosophists, this should be a condition of great happiness and innocence. But what is the fact? Though yet unpolluted in any remarkable degree by some of the flagitious vices with which heathen nations more advanced in civilization are usually found contaminated, moral purity, if in any faint measure apprehended, is a virtue of no estimation among them; selfishness, the pervading vice of savage life, is universal; and the want of religion is supplied by superstitious follies at once childish and ferocious.

Some of our party entered Pato's kraal in the dusk of the evening, and were witnesses to a ceremony performed by the rain-maker, in discovering a witch. The chief had been long sick, and the rain-maker was summoned, for the sickness of a chief is always the effect of witchcraft or of poison; and the tribe was in doubt and fear. When I entered, I found the women ranged in a semicircle, beating the large shields of the warriors, and shouting a melancholy, monotonous air,

"To some dark being framed by their phantasy;"

but it appeared to me, that they liked not that a stranger should see their wild rites, for they ceased soon after our approach.

The belief in witchcraft is general throughout the country, and the punishments are dreadful. The rain-maker, after his ceremonies, fixes on some obnoxious individual, possessed of a large quantity of cattle: no proof is necessary, no protestations of innocence avail: the wretch is fixed to the earth by a thong, carried round the ankles and wrists, which are fastened to stakes driven into the ground; burning stones are then placed on his body, and nests of the large, black, venomous ants broken on the scorched and wounded parts. In his agony he confesses to all that is demanded of him, and is then ordered to give up the power by which he worked evil. He gives up something,-anything, -a string of beads, or an ornament; and is then tortured to death, or driven from the tribe a wanderer and a beggar.

I heard from one of the missionaries the following story:

' In Hinza's territory, a Kaffer, whose possessions excited envy and dislike, was accused of keeping a wolf, which, though confined during the day, roamed about the country at night, and destroyed the cattle. On this plea he was seized and deprived of everything, half of the cattle being taken by Hinza, while the other half were distributed among the councillors. The man was banished the country; and on leaving it, seized on the cattle of another, and carried them with him to Voosani, a neighbouring chief of Tambooki's. Hinza sent to complain of the robbery, to demand the cattle, and to inform the chief of the crime of the man whom he had protected. The cattle were returned, and great horror expressed at the crime. The missionary who told me the story, in speaking to Hinza on the subject, said, "You have plenty of cattle, why did you ruin the poor man?" When the chief turned to

VOL. III.-N.S.

F

hini with a peculiar smile, which marked that he was not deceived, and with a tone of mock seriousness, said, "Yes, but it is a shocking thing, you know, to keep a witch wolf."' p. 141-143.

But we must conclude our notice of Mr. Rose's volume, although it contains a great deal of other matter to which, had space admitted, it might have been amusing enough to advert;

such as his account of hunting excursions among the forests of the Great Fish River,-his notices of the Hottentots and Bushmen and Boors,-his journey back to Cape Town, and his passing call at St. Helena, on his voyage home to England, &c. &c. On the whole, we are pleased with the book and with the Author. He does not add much to our stock of information, but he carries us lightly and pleasantly over ground which we have formerly travelled in more scientific or serious company; entertaining us, as we gallop along, with picturesque descriptions of the rich or striking scenery, and (with the exceptions we have animadverted upon) but seldom offending us with the expression of any sentiment that is in bad taste or bad feeling.

Of the other little volume which we have placed at the head of this article, we can only say a few words. It is a gossiping sort of narrative of an excursion through Albany and part of Cafferland, full of minute, unimportant details, and almost wholly devoid of anything like enlarged or general views. In point of style and talent for description, it is far inferior to the work of Mr. Rose. Nevertheless, it contains some curious facts and entertaining incidents; and being written (as we understand) by one of the British settlers, after he had been several years located in the country, it conveys a more accurate, and at the same time a more pleasing impression of the character and condition of the white inhabitants upon the eastern frontier, both English and Dutch, than the somewhat cynical and sarcastic representation of our Engineer Officer. There is an account too of a lion-hunt in the Tambookie country, in which the Author was engaged, which is given with considerable spirit. But enough of these minor travellers. We must still refer such of our readers as desire to be acquainted with Southern Africa and its wild scenery and various population, to Barrow, and Burchell, and Thompson,-and, bating his turn for romance, to the lively Frenchman, the favourite of our boyhood, Le Vaillant. In all that regards the progress of the Christian missions and the civilization of the native tribes, Dr. Philip's "Researches" is the only work where full and satisfactory information is to be found.

Art. III. Expository Lectures on Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians. By William Lothian, Minister of the Congregational Church, St. Andrew's. 8vo. pp. viii. 552. Price 12s. Edinburgh. 1828.

THE Epistles to the Corinthians form a very important portion of the Apostolical writings, not only as regards the exhibition of the Christian doctrines and precepts which, in common with the other Apostolical writings, they comprise, but on account also of the details which they contain relating to the order and discipline of the primitive Christian communities. The study of the New Testament alone can furnish us with the means of understanding the institutions of Christianity, the nature and objects of the gospel ministry, the character and obligations of the members of Christian churches, and the modes of discipline prescribed and practised in the primitive Apostolic times. Mr. Lothian has very properly noticed the passages in these Epistles which refer to these subjects; and his brief comments upon them will be found instructive to the ingenuous inquirer. He has, indeed, treated on them with much more brevity than would be desirable in a work professedly devoted to the exclusive discussion of such topics; but the principal bearings of the passages are always distinctly shewn; the simplicity of the Christian institutes is satisfactorily illustrated; and in his pages, an admirable specimen is furnished of a species of instruction which, when delivered in the excellent spirit displayed by the Author, cannot fail of accomplishing very beneficial purposes in favour of Christian truth and charity.

Mr. Lothian has adopted a mode of exposition which unites paraphrase with criticism. By this means, he has provided for the instruction of his readers in the most pleasing and advan tageous manner. Against the paraphrastic mode, he objects its prolixity and the awkwardness of making the sacred writer seem to express the various senses which have been put on his words by commentators. On the other hand, the accumulation of mere critical annotations, he considers as ill calculated to meet the desires and wants of pious readers. The work, then, our readers will perceive, is not offered as one of high critical pretension; but, though not intended primarily for the use of scholars, it will not disappoint those readers who may be competent to appreciate the results of philological studies, and who, as they peruse the volume, keep in mind the occasions and purposes for which its contents were prepared. It comprises the instructions which the Author was accustomed from time to time to lay before his congregation, with such improvements in the form of the Lectures as he has judged necessary in committing them to the press. The Author's manner of constructing his exposition, and introducing his practical remarks, will be seen