54 
Seven Years in Central Africa. [Sept. 
the sheep " (followed by exclamations) ; then, " Eo Mora oa 
Modimo'' ("He is the Son of God")— this he repeated — ''Mora 
oa Modimo'' — "Son of God ! Son of God!" — and he passed on. 
Not liking to disturb his thoughts I left him alone, thanking God 
in the depths of my soul that these words had for the time got a 
place in his mind and made him think. He is a bright, thoughtful 
young man, twenty-four or twenty-five years of age. 
Sunday^ September ^rd, 1882. — A letter arrived to-day from the 
Jesuits who had come down to the Leshuma ferry, asking for 
boats to take them to Shesheke. The headmen sent word that 
they must wait until a reply comes from the king in answer to a 
message they sent by Mr. Westbeech. I have spent a pleasant 
week here, and get on well among the people. Shesheke is a 
town of slaves, three-fourths of the population being the absolute 
property of the other fourth. 
The people like to come and hear me reading out of the 
Sechuana Testament, and ask all sorts of childish questions. 
Their ignorance, to a man, is absolute, and their depravity 
complete. Human sacrifices, burning of witches, cutting their 
flesh, etc., are the outcome of a religion of dark superstition. 
RETURN TO PANDA-MA-TENKA. 
September ^th^ 1882. — Left Shesheke in a boat for Mbova. 
Slept the first night on a reed island, the second on a mud bank, 
as the lions were too troublesome for us to sleep on the 
mainland. 
Zth. — My men tried to frighten me into dealing out to them 
some extra rations. Coming up to a small reed-covered island, 
they all landed, professing to be tired ; and as it is not safe to sit 
in their canoes when they stop — the crocodiles having a trick of 
coming alongside slily and whisking one into the water with their 
tails — I got out with the men, spread my mat, lay down, and read 
a book that had interested me. My men stole back to the boat 
and suddenly pushed out to mid-stream and feigned to be 
paddling off, saying that they would not return unless I promised 
them more pay. I lay perfectly still, however, never even looking 
at them or letting them know that I heard. The book, I 
remember, was very interesting. I had got it from Mr. Westbeech, 
and it contained the lives of Scottish Covenanters. After having 
