lO Seven Years in Central Africa, [Dec. 
Kaffirs. At first they would scarcely do anything for me, but 
now they are very kind and obliging. I hope I may be able 
in some small measure to preach Jesus to them before reaching 
Potchefstroom. 
Drachenshurg Ra7ige^ December ^th^ 1881. — We are now on the 
top of these cold, bleak mountains, some 7000 feet high, which 
we reached on Saturday at noon, after two days' hard work 
for the oxen. 
Yesterday we had a grand thunder-storm. All seemed to be 
awed into perfect silence; while the mountains trembled, the 
waggon shook like a leaf, and the Kaffirs huddled noiselessly 
by their fires. I read Psalm ii. : " Why do the heathen rage, and 
the people imagine a vain thing ? " How hard it is for poor man 
to believe that in seeking to do without the Lord's Anointed 
he seeks a vain thing ! When we see that by one movement 
of the finger of God every whisper is silenced, we are reminded 
of that coming day when every mouth shall be stopped, and the 
whole world brought in guilty before God. "Though hand join 
in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished." How beautifully 
the psalm ends : " Be wise therefore, O ye kings : be instructed, 
ye judges of the earth. . . . Blessed are all they that put their 
trust in Him !" How often is the word ''blessed" used by the 
Lord in speaking of those who are His ! " Blessed is he whose 
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered;" "Blessed art 
thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not revealed 
it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven;" "Blessed 
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed;" and so in 
many other scriptures. 
The Lord has been teaching me a Httle of the awful sin 
of unthankfulness. Two great reasons why God gave up those 
of old to uncleanness and darkness were, that "they glorified 
Him not as God, neither were thankful." 
ORANGE FREE STATE. 
December ^th. — We are now within twelve miles of Harrismith, 
the first town we come to on entering the Orange Free State. 
The country before us, for two hundred miles, is a vast prairie, 
dotted with the homesteads of Dutch farmers, better known 
as the South African Boers, whose herds of cattle and horses 
