ABSTRACT
I T is a mistake to suppose that even amongbarbarous tribes, such as the Ngoni, all their customs are bad. There were, before Christian teaching began to influence them, many things which were admirable. Those traits of character and customs so readily seen by strangers, the observation of which has so often led travellers to believe that the state of the untutored savage was happy, free and good, are nevertheless found alongside lower ways of living, and a grossly immoral character, which are not only the obstacles to Mission work but its raison d'etre. It is not our purpose, meantime, to state or explain fully the customs of the people, all of which have an interest from the anthropological point of view, but to present a brief sketch of those which stood out as hindrances to the progress of our work, and which, being bad, had to succumb to the influences of the moral and spiritual teaching of the gospel. There are many
customs so grossly obscene that we cannot enter upon a statement of them. I avail myself of a letter from my colleague, Rev. Donald Fraser, which he recently sent home, describing what he witnessed in an out-lying district of Ngoniland in connection with the initiation customs at the coming of age of young women.
