22 SECHELE. 



must have been his paroxysms of dying rage. In order to 

 take out the charm from him, the Bakatla on the following 

 day made a huge bonfire over the carcass, which was de- 

 clared to be that of the largest lion they had ever seen. 

 Besides crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven 

 teeth-wounds on the upper part of my arm. 



A wound from this animal's tooth resembles a gun-shot 

 wound ; it is generally followed by a great deal of slough- 

 ing and discharge, and pains are felt in the part periodically 

 ever afterward. I had on a tartan jacket on the occasion, 

 and I believe that it wiped off all the virus from the teeth 

 that pierced the flesh, for my two companions in this affray 

 have both suffered from the peculiar pains, while I have 

 escaped with only the inconvenience of a false joint in my 

 limb. The man whose shoulder was wounded showed me 

 his wound actually burst forth afresh on the same month 

 of the following year. This curious point deserves the 

 attention of inquirers. 



I attached myself to the tribe called Bakuena or Bak- 

 wains, the chief of which, named Sechele, was then living 

 with his people at a place called Shokuane. I was from 

 the first struck by his intelligence, and by the marked 

 manner in which we both felt drawn to each other. This 

 remarkable man has not only embraced Christianity, but 

 expounds its doctrines to his people. 



Sechele continued to make a consistent profession for 

 about three years; and, perceiving at last some of the 

 difficulties of his case, and also feeling compassion for the 

 poor women, who were by far the best of our scholars, I had 

 no desire that he should be in any hurry to make a full 

 profession by baptism and putting away all his wives but 

 one. His principal wife, too, was about the most unlikely 

 subject in the tribe ever to become any thing else than an 

 out-and-out greasy disciple of the old school. She has 

 Bince become greatly altered, I hear, for the better; but 

 again and again have I seen Sechele send her out of church 

 to put her gown on, and away she would go with her lips 



