The role of the church in this chapter of southern African colonial history was at once ironic and contradictory. For its intervention, in the name of protecting the natives, was to prepare them for their eventual subordination-though not always in obvious ways (J. Comaroff 1985:123f.). Insofar as the evangelists engaged in secular politics, they saw such activity as part of their larger "civilizing" mission. It helped in the task of enlightening the savage and bringing him into the social and cultural universe of Christian Europe. In the same vein, the Protestants quickly learned that, while the Tswana appreciated the "practical" benefits of their presence, they did not show the same enthusiasm for their "spiritual" message. This was blamed on the African's "carnal view of spiritual things" (Broadbent 1865:178). As a result, the mission em- phasized practical reconstruction, seeking to lay the basis for conversion by transforming the person through mundane activities of everyday life.4