DIFFICULTIES WITH THE BOERS. 49 



seeing conveniences spring up before him from his own ingenuity ; and mar- 

 ried life is all the sweeter when so many comforts emanate directly from the 

 thrifty striving housewife's hands." 



The good done by continuous labour of this kind, undertaken in so noble 

 and self-denying a spirit, is incalculable. If the grown-up men and women 

 resisted his persuasions and held coldly aloof from his teaching of the gospel, their 

 respect for him induced them to permit their children to attend the various 

 religious and secular classes taught by him and his devoted wife. The seed 

 sown in these young minds before the superstitions of their elders had taken 

 root, will in time bring forth an abundant reward for the earnest labour 

 expended ; while their general comfort will be greatly enhanced by the 

 superior knowledge acquired from him, in husbandry and other peaceful 

 avocations . 



In a new country just beyond the pale of civilization, always advancing 

 as law and order are extended, reckless, and adventurous men, most of whom 

 are fugitives from justice, establish themselves, and prey upon the savage tribes 

 who are unable to defend themselves from their cruelty and exactions. A 

 band of such men, under the leadership of a Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter, had 

 established themselves as far into the interior as the Cashan Mountains, on 

 the borders of the Bechuana territory. At first they were warmly welcomed 

 by the Bechuanas, because they had conquered and expelled a Kaffre chief, 

 who had exercised a cruel authority over the neighbouring tribes. Their joy 

 was shortlived as they found that the Boers, as Potgeiter and his followers in 

 common with all Dutch settlers and their descendants are called, compelled 

 them to do all their manual labour without fee or reward. These men looked 

 with no favourable eye on the doings of Livingstone, when they found that 

 they could neither frighten nor coerce him. The teaching that all men were 

 equal in the sight of God, was most distasteful to men who lived upon the 

 enforced labour — the slavery in fact — of the tribes around them. When 

 threats had no avail, they circulated reports that he had with him quantities 

 of firearms, and that he was assisting the Bakwains to make war against their 

 neighbours. As they could not intimidate Livingstone, they sent a threaten- 

 ing letter to Sechele, commanding him to surrender to the Dutch, and 

 acknowledge himself their vassal, and stop English traders from proceeding 

 into the interior. This last was the true bone of contention. Possessing- a 

 better knowledge of the value of skins, ivory, etc., than the Bechuanas, they 

 wished to close the country against any traders but themelves. 



Sechele, notwithstanding the risk he ran in quarreling with them, sent 

 them a bold and resolute reply : — 



" I am an independent chief, placed here by God, not you. Other tribes 

 you have conquered, but not me. The English are my friends. I get every- 

 thing I wish from them. I cannot hinder them from going where they like." 



H 



