44 HOSTILITY OF THE BOERS. Chap. II. 



They roll away the droppings of cattle at once, in round pieces 

 often as large as billiard-balls ; and when they reach a place 

 proper by its softness for the deposit of then eggs, and the safety 

 of their young, they dig the soil out from beneath the ball, till 

 they have quite let it down and covered it : they then lay their 

 eggs within the mass. AVhile the larvae are growing, they devour 

 the inside of the ball before coming above ground to begin the 

 world for themselves. The beetles with their gigantic balls look 

 like Atlas with the world on his back ; only they go back- 

 wards, and, with their heads down, push with the hind legs, as 

 if a boy should roll a snow-ball with his legs, while standing 

 on Ins head. As we recommend the eland to John Bull, and 

 the gigantic frog to France, we can confidently recommend 

 tins beetle to the dirty Italian towns, and our own Sanitary 

 Commissioners. 



In trying to benefit the tribes living under the Boers of the 

 Cashan mountains, I twice performed a journey of about three 

 hundred miles to the eastward of Kolobeng. Sechele had become 

 so obnoxious to the Boers, that, though anxious to accompany me 

 in my journey, he dared not trust himself among them. Tliis 

 did not arise from the crime of cattle-stealing ; for that crime, so 

 common among the Caffres, was never charged againt his tribe, 

 nor, indeed, against any Bechuana tribe. It is, in fact, unknown 

 in the country, except during actual warfare. His independence 

 and love of the English were his only faults. In my last journey 

 there, of about two hundred miles, on parting at the river 

 Marikwe he gave me two servants, "to be," as he said, "his 

 arms to serve me," and expressed regret that he could not come 

 liimself. " Suppose we went north," I said, " would you come ?" 

 He then told me the story of Sebituane having saved his life, and 

 expatiated on the far-famed generosity of that really great man. 

 Tliis was the first time I had thought of crossing the Desert to 

 Lake Ngami. 



The conduct of the Boers, who, as will be remembered, had 

 sent a letter designed to procure my removal out of the country, 

 and then well-known settled policy which I have already de- 

 scribed, became more fully developed on this than on any former 

 occasion. When I spoke to Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter of the 

 danger of hindering the Gospel of Christ among these poor 



