TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. 229 



that lie could in his own tongue have expressed it without study 

 all over again in three or four different ways. The interpreter 

 could scarcely have done as much in English. 



This language both rich and poor speak correctly ; there is no 

 vulgar style ; but children have a jpatois of their own, using many 

 words in their play which men would scorn to repeat. The Bam- 

 apela have adopted a click into their dialect, and a large infusion 

 of the ringing n, which seems to have been for the purpose of pre- 

 venting others from understanding them. 



The fact of the complete translation of the Bible at a station 

 seven hundred miles inland from the Cape naturally suggests the 

 question whether it is likely to be permanently useful, and wheth- 

 er Christianity, as planted by modern missions, is likely to retain 

 its vitality without constant supplies of foreign teaching ? It 

 would certainly be no cause for congratulation if the Bechuana 

 Bible seemed at all likely to meet the fate of Elliot's Choctaw 

 version, a specimen of which may be seen in the library of one 

 of the American colleges — as God's word in a language which no 

 living tongue can articulate, nor living mortal understand ; but a 

 better destiny seems in store for this, for the Sichuana language 

 has been introduced into the new country beyond Lake Ngami. 

 There it is the court language, and will take a stranger any where 

 through a district larger than France. The Bechuanas, moreover, 

 in all probability possess that imperishability which forms so re- 

 markable a feature in the entire African race. 



When converts are made from heathenism by modern mission- 

 aries, it becomes an interesting question whether their faith pos- 

 sesses the elements of permanence, or is only an exotic too tender 

 for self-propagation when the fostering care of the foreign cultiva- 

 tors is withdrawn. If neither habits of self-reliance are cultivated, 

 nor opportunities given for the exercise of that virtue, the most 

 promising converts are apt to become like spoiled children. In 

 Madagascar, a few Christians were left with nothing but the Bi- 

 ble in their hands ; and though exposed to persecution, and even 

 death itself, as the penalty of adherence to their profession, they 

 increased ten-fold in numbers, and are, if possible, more decided 

 believers now than they were when, by an edict of the queen of 

 that island, the missionaries ceased their teaching. 



In South Africa such an experiment could not be made, for 



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