Previous - Next

I thought it great
carelessness on the part of the missionary to have omitted the second,
and certainly more important, ceremony which I have always understood
precedes christening both in the case of infants and of adult converts;
and when I thought of the risks we were both incurring I determined that
there should be no further delay. Fortunately it was not yet twelve
o'clock, so I baptized him at once from one of the pannikins (the only
vessels I had) reverently, and, I trust, efficiently. I then set myself
to work to instruct him in the deeper mysteries of our belief, and to
make him, not only in name, but in heart a Christian.

It is true that I might not have succeeded, for Chowbok was very hard to
teach. Indeed, on the evening of the same day that I baptized him he
tried for the twentieth time to steal the brandy, which made me rather
unhappy as to whether I could have baptized him rightly. He had a prayer-
book--more than twenty years old--which had been given him by the
missionaries, but the only thing in it which had taken any living hold
upon him was the title of Adelaide the Queen Dowager, which he would
repeat whenever strongly moved or touched, and which did really seem to
have some deep spiritual significance to him, though he could never
completely separate her individuality from that of Mary Magdalene, whose
name had also fascinated him, though in a less degree.

He was indeed stony ground, but by digging about him I might have at any
rate deprived him of all faith in the religion of his tribe, which would
have been half way towards making him a sincere Christian; and now all
this was cut off from me, and I could neither be of further spiritual
assistance to him nor he of bodily profit to myself: besides, any company
was better than being quite alone.

I got very melancholy as these reflections crossed me, but when I had
boiled the ducks and eaten them I was much better. I had a little tea
left and about a pound of tobacco, which should last me for another
fortnight with moderate smoking. I had also eight ship biscuits, and,
most precious of all, about six ounces of brandy, which I presently
reduced to four, for the night was cold.

I rose with early dawn, and in an hour I was on my way, feeling strange,
not to say weak, from the burden of solitude, but full of hope when I
considered how many dangers I had overcome, and that this day should see
me at the summit of the dividing range.

After a slow but steady climb of between three and four hours, during
which I met with no serious hindrance, I found myself upon a tableland,
and close to a glacier which I recognised as marking the summit of the
pass. Above it towered a succession of rugged precipices and snowy
mountain sides. The solitude was greater than I could bear; the mountain
upon my master's sheep-run was a crowded thoroughfare in comparison with
this sombre sullen place. The air, moreover, was dark and heavy, which

Previous - Next