But  there  is  nothing  wrong  in  trying  to
see  hozu  He  is  working,  and  the  thought -path
we  have  been  talking  of,  the  principle  (which  I
firmly  believe  false  as  regards  truth-seeking)  of
allowing  our  spiritual  wants  to  bias  our  judgment,
seems  to  me  one  of  the  most  ingenious  and  simple
of  His  methods  of  leading  mankind  towards  im-
provement. For,  by  allowing  his  spiritual  cravings
to  affect  his  judgment,  a  man  naturally  falls  into
the  belief  best  suited  to  his  temperament,  character,
and  the  shape  of  his  mind. Absolute  truth  and
utility  are  not  the  same  thing,  as  I  am  always
saying. Mankind  must  go  through  phase  after
phase  of  belief  and  opinion  in  its  own  onward
march,  and  this  law,  which  tends  to  invest  each
individual  with  the  phase  best  suited  to  bring  out
his  energies,  is  as  beautiful  as  it  is  simple. It  is
this  wise  and  salutary  law  (fallacy  though  the
thought -path  be)  that  makes  it  fortunately  so
nearly  impossible  to  convert  a  religious  man  into
a  sceptic  by  any  amount  of  reasoning,  and  that  is
indeed  the  way  to  the  much-talked-of  "  Missionary
failure."      It  is  impossible  to  effect  the  conversion  of


I02  ROOTS

a  race  unless  they  have  at  least  partially  ontgrowii
the  religion  they  profess  ;  and  if  missionaries  would
acknowledge  this  fact,  and  examine  how  far  the
standards  of  the  religions  they  are  trying  to  sub-
vert are  suited  to  the  mental  and  moral  stages  of
the  races,  instead  of  abusing  the  Devil,  and  white
traders,  as  the  cause  of  their  failure,  we  should
soon  possess  a  more  scientific  knowledge  of  the
keys  to  the  durability  of  religions  and  the  mental
roots  of  races  than  we  have  at  present. I  should
like  to  get  hold  of  the  statistics  of  the  number
of  the  men  who  have  been  converted  from  a  lower
faith  to  a  higher  by  spiritual  cravings,  and  com-
pare it  with  the  number  that  have  been  converted
by  simple  reason. I  fear  poor  reason  would  not
have  many  talents  to  show.'

'  Look  ! '  cried  he ;  and  peering  over  the  side
of  the  boat  into  the  clear,  dark  water,  I  saw  a
glorious  yellowtail  lying  motionless,  with  his  back
almost  touching  the  bottom  of  the  dingey. He
must  have  weighed  full  forty  pounds. This  affec-
tion of  theirs  for  a  boat  is  really  curious. 