sechele's conversion. 59 



stone was there, is about 250 miles from Kuruman. One 

 hundred miles may not be despised, in a country where all 

 journeys must be undertaken with one's eyes open to the 

 difficulties of forests and wild beasts and unfriendly people, 

 and where oxen convey you. The first settlement, 250 miles 

 in advance of the hardiest missionary effort, was no insig- 

 nificant matter. Matabosa, the mission station selected by 

 Dr. Livingstone, is only a few miles south of the city of the 

 chief. Sechele was chief. There is frequent mention of this 

 man in the books of travellers in South Africa about that time. 

 He stands out distinctly, in the meagre African history which 

 we possess, a noble specimen. He was a man of singular 

 intelligence and liberality, and grasped with avidity the rudi- 

 ments of reading and mathematics, and handled these keys 

 with a masterly skill, opening readily the avenues of knowl- 

 edge. He received the Christian teacher with all cordiality, 

 and was greatly delighted with the beauties of the Bible. 

 Isaiah charmed him ; over and over he would exclaim, " He 

 was a fine man that Isaiah ; he knew how to speak." 



No wonder that such a man, coming to know the truth, 

 was full of amazement that Christian people had been so long 

 a time delaying to send his people the gospel. "My fore- 

 fathers ! " he would exclaim, " why did they not send them this 

 word ? They all passed away in darkness." O that the reproach 

 of inactivity may be against us no longer ! The " fathers have 

 passed away in darkness ! " The children ! the Christian world 

 must vindicate the name it bears, by arising in the spirit 

 of the Master, giving wings to the word. 



This noble man was greatly embarrassed by the incompati- 

 bility of the demands of Christianity with the customs of his 

 country, and particularly with the relations of a chief. There 

 he sat, in the centre ; ranged around him, circle after circle, 

 were his subjects, in the order of their dignity or family 

 strength. The one bond which pervades the whole tribe is 

 that of marriage. The chief binds the stronger of the under 

 chiefs to himself by taking wives of their families; these under 

 chiefs in turn fasten yet humbler families to them in the same 

 way, and so on. 



The whole tribe is a family ; the chief is the head of the 



