After considering our prospects we felt that we could easily form a good Mission in some corner of the vast district. We might have much difficulty in maintaining ourselves but we were resolved to do what we could to teach the poor people that we had struggled for so long. For myself I was greatly in favour of this step, but in case I should find it expedient to leave for England, I began to revise the native Grammar and Vocabulary that I had drawn up. Although civil jurisdiction was now disclaimed by the leaders of the Church, it was still, as might have been anticipated, exercised at the Mission Settlement. Every now and then something had to be done which was liable to be represented as an atrocity. At first the Blantyre villagers had willingly come forward when their services were required by the Missionaries, but now they often declined in cases where their aid seemed indispensible. Even when the deputation was present, these natives were forced out to do work of this kind. As a general rule, African savages are blamed for being timorous and easily overawed, but this is not always true. A man refused on one occasion to do some duty that was required, and received a message from the Lay Superintendent requesting him to come up and state what excuse he had to give. But the native refused even to make this small concession, remarking that ‘he was not the slave of the Blantyre Settlement’. He was then told that his home would be burned down, when he replied that he did not care; and the result was that he sat with his family and looked on till his house was reduced to ashes. Even this did not banish him from the Settlement. For several days he was sheltered by certain of the Blantyre villagers, who did so, even although threatened with a similar punishment. Indeed, natives often risk a great deal in aiding their friends. Owing perhaps to the paternal nature of their government, they are more willing to share the punishment of a relative, however bad he may be, than to turn their backs upon him. This half-year, one of the Blantyre villagers had given a great amount of disturbance. When the Lay-Superintendent tried to reason with him, the native threatened to burn his house. One night an effort was made to capture the man, and all the fire-arms of the Mission were turned out in the adventure. It seems that the Mission party expected to capture him by surrounding his house, but they found that he had escaped, one of the natives remarking that the “English need not go to capture anyone because their boots spoke too much” (_i.e._, made too much noise as compared with the bare feet of the negroes). On this occasion one of the Blantyre Headmen joined so zealously in the pursuit that he did not go to bed. Judge the surprise of the Lay-Superintendent when he discovered that in a few nights after the hunt, the fugitive was the guest of this very headman!