They carried silver chalices, censers, &c., which were, in some instances, an inducement to take away their lives. They set themselves vigorously to oppose all ‘idolatry’—under which head they classed the native charms. They were not without apprehension of the power of sorcerers. Merolla mentions that an old witch lay down on the ground beside him, and began to scrape a hole in it. ‘At the sight of this,’ he says, ‘I immediately ordered my interpreter to begone, being more concerned for him than myself, for as a priest that had always trusted in God, I doubted not but to render her charms ineffectual as to myself.’ But he does not seem to have been quite at ease, and tried afterwards to avoid her. He explains that when they dig a hole thus in the ground they have the intention of bewitching a person to death. In estimating the native character, he says, ‘The Negroes are both a malicious and a subtle people, and I likewise must allow that they spend the most of their time in circumventing and deceiving, yet I cannot allow that because they are a stubborn soil they must be left uncultivated’. To say that they are always obstinate and perverse, and man-eaters is not to be made an objection against them, because our Saviour says, ‘Those that are well do not stand in need of a physician’. He contends that they really embrace Christianity. The above quoted Missionaries, it will be perceived, all belonged to the Church of Rome, which was earliest at work in this quarter of Africa. Their experiences are valuable to this day, as showing the nature of the difficulties to be met, and suggesting also that Missionaries should study more and more closely the ideal of Mission Life contained in the Acts of the Apostles. While admitting that these men spent much of their time in instructing their converts, I still think that their work in the district of the Zambeze would have been more permanent if they had set themselves to teach these natives to read and to form an intelligent judgment on the message that was brought them. But printing presses were not easily procured in those days, and the Missionaries did ‘what they could’.