A VISIT TO KURUMAN. 55 



hundreds of volumes of Sechuana Testaments, and other religious works and 

 tracts, the leaves of which still lay scattered for nearly a mile in every direc- 

 tion. Even the window and door frames had been taken out, and the floor 

 was strewed with bottles of valuable medicines, the use of which the Boers 

 did not understand. The town where Sechele was attacked, and which was 

 burnt to the ground, a few miles from Kolobeng, presented a melancholy 

 scene of desolation, bestrewn with the unburied carcases and bleaching bones 

 of the natives who fell." 



The following is Mr. Chapman's account of Kuruman in 1853 : — 

 "Next day I rode over to Kuruman, where I found my friend, Mr. Thomp- 

 son, who afterwards travelled in company with us. Here I was introduced 

 to the worthy missionaries, Messrs. Moffat and Ashton, and their families, the 

 memory of whose uniform kindness I shall ever cherish. Milk, new bread, 

 and fresh butter, we were never in want of while near these good people, and 

 of grapes, apples, peaches, and all other products of the garden, there was 

 never any lack at our waggons, Every one is struck with the beauty of 

 Kuruman, although the site cannot boast of any natural charms. All we see 

 is the result of well-directed labour. A street of about a quarter of a mile in 

 length is lined on one side by the missionary gardens, enclosed with substan- 

 tial walls, and teeming with fruit and vegetables of every description. A row 

 of spreading willows are nourished by a fine watercourse, pouring a copious 

 stream at their roots for nearly a mile, and beyond the gardens flows to the 

 eastward the river Kuruman, between tall reeds, with flights of waterfowl 

 splashing on its surface. The river issues a few miles south from a grotto 

 said to be 100 yards long, and very spacious, the habitation of innumerable 

 bats, owls, and serpents of a large size. Stalactites of various shapes and 

 figures are to be found in this grotto. I have seen some beautiful specimens 

 adorning mantelpieces. One party discovered in the roof of this grotto 

 portions of a human skeleton perfectly petrified, and a part of which was 

 broken off. 



" On the opposite side of the street, and facing the row of gardens, the 

 willows, and the stream, is a spacious chapel, calculated to hold more than 

 500 people. It is built of stone, with a missionary dwelling-house on either 

 side of it, and a trader's dwelling-house and store at the western end. All 

 these, as well as the smaller but neat dwellings of the Bechuanas, built in the 

 European style, and in good taste, have shady seringa trees planted in the 

 front. At the back of the missionary premises there are store and school rooms, 

 workshops, etc., with a smithy in front. Behind the chapel is a printing 

 office, in which native compositors were setting type for the new editions of 

 Mr. Moffat's bible. Thousands of Sechuana books have been as well printed 

 and as neatly bound in this establishment, under the superintendence of Mr. 

 Ashton, as they could be in England. The natives here are the most enlightened 



