Chap. I. 
THE BAKWAIN COUNTEY. 
9 
CHAPTEK I. 
The Bakwain country — Study of the language ■— Native ideas regarding 
comets — Mahdtsa station— A lion encounter — Virus of the teeth of 
lions — Names of the Bechuana tribes — Sechele ■— His ancestors — 
Obtains the chieftainship — His marriage land government — The Kotla 
— First public religious services — Sechele’s questions — He learns to 
read — Novel mode for converting his tribe — Surprise at their indiffer¬ 
ence — Polygamy — Baptism of Sechele — Opposition of the natives — 
Purchase land at Chonuane — Eelations with the people — Their intel¬ 
ligence — Prolonged drought — Consequent trials — Eain-medicine — 
God’s word blamed — Native reasoning — Eain-maker — Dispute be¬ 
tween rain doctor and medical doctor — The hunting hopo — Salt or 
animal food a necessary of life — Duties of a missionary. 
The general instructions I received from the Directors of the 
London Missionary Society led me, as soon as I reached Kuruman 
or Lattakoo, then, as it is now, their farthest inland station from 
the Cape, to turn my attention to the north. Without waiting 
longer at Kmmman than was necessary to recruit the oxen, which 
were pretty well tired by the long journey from Algoa Bay, I 
proceeded, in company with another missionary, to the Bakuena 
or Bakwain country, and found Sechele, with his tribe, located 
at Shokuane. We shortly after retraced our steps to Kuruman; 
but as the objects in view were by no means to be attained by a 
temporary excursion of this sort, I determined to make a fresh 
start into the interior as soon as possible. Accordingly, after 
resting tliree months at Kuruman, which is a kmd of head station 
in the country, I returned to a spot about fifteen miles south of 
Shokuane, called Lepelole (now Litubaruba). Here, in order to 
obtain an accurate knowledge of the language, I cut myself off 
from all European society for about six months, and gained by 
this ordeal an insight into the habits, ways of thinking, laws, and 
language of that section of the Bechuanas, called Bakwains, wliich 
has proved of incalculable advantage in my intercourse with them 
ever since. 
In this second journey to Lepelole—so called from a cavern of 
that name—I began preparations for a settlement, by making a 
canal to irrigate gardens, from a stream then flowing copiously. 
