SECHELE LEARNS TO READ. 45 



water at a much lower level, that vast districts, now almost desert, were rich 

 in cattle, and populous with human beings, within the memory of people 

 then living. 



The father of Sechele was murdered when the chief was a boy, and a 

 usurper proclaimed himself the head of the tribe. The friends of the children 

 applied to Sebituane, chief of the Makololo, to reinstate them, and punish the 

 rebels. This he successfully accomplished; and between him and his subject 

 tribes, and Sechele and his people, there was much friendly relation in 

 consequence. This ultimately led to Livingstone's visiting Sebituane's country, 

 and making the acquaintance of perhaps the wisest native ruler he came in 

 contact with in all his wanderings. 



The government in the Bechuana tribes is patriarchal : the chief is the 

 head of the tribe, and a father is the chief of his family. Round the hut of 

 the chief are the huts of his wives, those of his relations, and the leading 

 men of the tribe ; and round the hut of the father are ranged those of his 

 family, when they take up house. Kinship is as minutely defined and is as 

 much a matter of pride with the natives of South Africa, as among the inha- 

 bitants of the highlands of Scotland. 



The first time Livingstone held a public religious service, Sechele listened 

 with much attention ; and on receiving permission to ask questions regarding 

 what he had heard, inquired if Livingstone's forefathers knew of a future 

 judgment. On receiving an affirmative answer and a description of the great 

 white throne, and Him who shall sit on it, before whose face the heaven and 

 earth shall flee away, etc., he said, "You startle me; these words make all 

 my bones to shake ; I have no more strength in me. But my forefathers were 

 living at the same time yours were ; and how is it that they did not send them 

 word about these terrible things sooner ? They all passed away into darkness, 

 without knowing whither they were going." Questions these, like some 

 frequently asked by children of their elders, more easily sympathised with than 

 answered. 



So eager was Sechele to learn to read, that he acquired a knowledge of 

 the alphabet on the first day of Livingstone's residence at Chounane. Mr. 

 Oswell, a gentleman of independent fortune travelling in the country, from 

 a love of sport and adventure and a desire to extend the geographical know- 

 ledge of South Africa — who, as we shall see, afterwards joined Livingstone in 

 his expedition to Lake Ngami — taught him arithmetic. After he was able to 

 read, nothing gave him greater pleasure than the getting Livingstone to listen 

 to Iris reading of the Bible. Isaiah was his favourite book; and he would 

 frequently say, — "He was a fine man — Isaiah; he knew how to speak." 

 Sympathising with the difficulties encountered in converting his people, he 

 offered to convert them in a body ; and could hardly be made to understand 

 Livingstone's objection to making Christians in a wholesale manner through 



