without--lamenting that a country so abundantly gifted and favoured
by nature should remain in its present savage and neglected state.
Much more did I lament that a people of manners and disposition so
gentle and benevolent should either be left as they now are,
immersed in the gross and uncomfortable blindness of pagan
superstition, or permitted to become converts to a system of bigotry
and fanaticism which, without enlightening the mind, often debases
the heart. On this subject many observations might be made, but the
reader will probably think that I have already digressed too
largely; and I now, therefore, return to my situation at Kamalia.



CHAPTER XXIV--MOHAMMEDAN CUSTOMS; ARRIVAL AT KINYTAKOORO



The schoolmaster to whose care I was entrusted during the absence of
Karfa was a man of a mild disposition and gentle manners; his name
was Fankooma, and although he himself adhered strictly to the
religion of Mohammed, he was by no means intolerant in his
principles towards others who differed from him. He spent much of
his time in reading, and teaching appeared to be his pleasure as
well as employment. His school consisted of seventeen boys, most of
whom were sons of Kafirs, and two girls, one of whom was Karfa's own
daughter. The girls received their instruction in the daytime, but
the boys always had their lessons, by the light of a large fire,
before day break and again late in the evening; for, being
considered, during their scholarship, as the domestic slaves of the
master, they were employed in planting corn, bringing firewood, and