54 



STUDYING THE LANGUAGE. 



accomplished. Quitting Kuruman, and the pleasures and 

 encouragements of home-faces and home-words, he sought an 

 abode northward. There he denied himself all European 

 society six months, that he might identify himself with the 

 natives and learn their language, their customs, their habits of 

 mind, their laws and way of thinking. The tribe which he 

 had chosen was that section of the Bechuanas known as Bak- 

 wains. The future rewarded the sacrifice he made and the 

 labor he performed in those first six months. He bought, by 

 those months of toil, the key which unlocked for him door 

 after door in his subsequent wanderings. His home in these 

 months was at Litubarnba; it was called then Lepelole. He 

 proposed 'to make a settlement there; but while he was at 

 Kuruman on one occasion, the friendly Bakwains were dispos- 

 sessed of the territory by one of those native wars which arise 

 almost as frequently and unexpectedly and terribly in barbar- 

 ous countries as the wild winds. 



So after some journeyings hither and thither, he selected the 

 " beautiful valley of Matabosa," and removed to it in 1843. He 

 immediately identified himself thoroughly with the people. It 

 was his nature and his theory to do so. The real interest which 

 he allowed himself to cherish in everything which concerned 

 them is the truest explanation of their regard for him and his 

 peculiar influence over them. If they were in want, he would 

 help to provide for them ; if they were in danger, he would 

 help to deliver them. If we would give medicine to a child, 

 we give it a toy first. He felt that those people must receive 

 the truth like a child receives medicine. He made them like 

 him by the love he bore them, manifested according to their 

 comprehension ; then they would hear him in matters which 

 were strange and disagreeable. This spirit led to a very serious 

 affair only a short time after the settlement at Matabosa — an 

 incident which has gained peculiar interest latterly. The 

 lions had become singularly troublesome, venturing on most 

 daring depredations in broad daylight. The cowardly natives 

 had surrendered to their superstitions, and bemoaned the misery 

 of their situation helplessly enough, when the killing of a single 

 one of their impudent neighbors would have relieved them 

 effectually. Under the circumstances, the missionary headed a 



