The Conquest of the Desert 



plorer wooed and won the missionary's daughter. 

 But the final chapter of this mission romance 

 was closed when the weaver of Blantyre was 

 borne into the abbey. And Livingstone must 

 have seen a vision in the crystal pool of Kuru- 

 man when he wrote : " The world is ours. Our 

 Father made it to be inhabited, and many shall 

 run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. 

 It will be increased more by emigration than by 

 missionaries." 



The origin of the name Kuruman is obscure. 

 In an early book it is written Krooman. Some 

 say it means the " place of the little calabash," 

 others the " place of the little tortoise," and yet 

 others that it is the name of a mighty Bushman 

 who had his home in the cave of the weep- 

 ing fountain. The " Eye " of Kuruman is a 

 perennial stream which issues out of a dark 

 cavern of dolomite. Its flow has been measured 

 by the officials of the Geological Survey and 

 Irrigation Department, and the figures given 

 vary from four to five million gallons every 

 twenty-four hours. So far as one can learn, it is 

 the most remarkable spring in South Africa, and 

 one of the purest in the whole world. When all 

 other springs fail farmers come from afar with 

 their flocks and herds to the Kuruman River. 



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