110 KURUMAN : ITS FOUNTAIN. Chap. 



CHAPTEE VI. 



Kuruman — Its fine fountain — Vegetation of the district — Remains of 

 ancient forests — Vegetable poison — The Bible translated by Mr. Moffat 



— Capabilities of the language — Christianity among the natives — The 

 Missionaries should extend their labours more beyond the Cape Colony 



— Model Christians — Disgraceful attack of the Boers on the Bakwains 



— Letter from Sechele — Details of the attack — Numbers of school 

 children carried away into slavery — Destruction of house and property 

 at Kolobeng — The Boers vow vengeance against me — Consequent diffi- 

 culty of getting servants to accompany me on my journey — Start in 

 November, 1852 — Meet Sechele on his way to England to obtain redress 

 from the Queen — He is unable to proceed beyond the Cape — Meet 

 Mr. Macabe on his return from Lake Ngami — The hot wind of the 

 Desert — Electric state of the atmosphere — Flock of swifts — Reach 

 Litubaruba — The cave Lepelole — Superstitions regarding it — Impove- 

 rished state of the Bakwains — Retaliation on the Boers — Slavery — 

 Attachment of the Bechuanas to children — Hydrophobia unknown — 

 Diseases of the Bakwains few in number — Yearly epidemics — Hasty 

 burials — Ophthalmia — Native doctors — Knowledge of surgery at a 

 very low ebb — Little attendance given to women at their confinements 



— The " child medicine " — Salubrity of the climate well adapted for 

 invalids suffering from pulmonary complaints. 



The permanence of the station called Kuruman depends entirely 

 on the fine ever-flowing fountain of that name. It comes from 

 beneath the trap-rock, of which I shall have to speak when de- 

 scribing the geology of the entire country ; and as it usually issues 

 at a temperature of 72° Falrr., it probably comes from the old 

 silurian schists, winch formed the bottom of the great primaeval 

 valley of the continent. I could not detect any diminution in the 

 flow of this gushing fountain during my residence in the country ; 

 but when Mr. Moffat first attempted a settlement here, tliirty-five 

 years ago, he made a dam six or seven miles below the present 

 one, and led out the stream for irrigation, where not a drop of the 

 fountain-water ever now flows. Other parts, fourteen miles below 

 the Kuruman gardens, are pointed out as having contained, within 

 the memory of people now living, hippopotami, and pools sufficient 

 to drown both men and cattle. This failure of water must be 

 chiefly ascribed to the general desiccation of the country, but 



