110 
KUEUMAN: ITS FOUNTAIN. 
Chap. AT. 
CHAPTEE VI. 
Kumman — Its fine fountain — Vegetation of the district — Eemains of 
ancient forests — Vegetable poison —■ The Bible translated hy Mr. Moffat 
— Capabilities of the language — Christianity among the natives — The 
Missionaries should extend their labours more beyond the Cape Colony 
— Model Christians — Disgraceful attack of the Boers on the Bakwains 
— Letter from Sechele — Details of the attack — Numbers of school 
children carried away into slavery — Destruction of house and property 
at Kolobeng — The Boers vow vengeance against me — Consequent diffi¬ 
culty of getting servants to accompany me on my journey — Start in 
November, 1852 — Meet Sechele on his way to England to obtain redress 
from the Queen — He is unable to proceed beyond the Cape — Meet 
Mr. Macabe on his return from Lake Ngami — The hot wind of the 
Desert — Electric state of the atmosphere — Elock of swifts — Beach 
Litubaruba —- The cave Lepelole — Superstitions regarding it — Impove¬ 
rished state of the Bakwains — Eetaliation on the Boers — Slavery — 
Attachment of the Bechuanas to children — Hydrophobia unknown — 
Diseases of the Bakwains few in number — Yearly epidemics — Hasty 
burials — Ophthalmia — Native doctors — Knowledge of surgery at a 
very low ebb •— Little attendance given to women at their confinements 
— The “ child medicine ” — Salubrity of the climate well adapted for 
invalids suffering from pulmonary comxffaints. 
The permanence of the station called Kuruman depends entirely 
on the fine ever-fiowing fountain of that name. It comes from 
beneath the trap-rock, of which I shall have to speak when de¬ 
scribing the geology of the enthe country; and as it usually issues 
at a temperature of 72° Ealir., it probably comes from the old 
Silurian scliists, which formed the bottom of the great primaeval 
vaUey of the continent. I could not detect any diminution in the 
flow of this gushing fountain during my residence in the country; 
but when Mr. Moffat first attempted a settlement here, thirty-five 
years ago, he made a dam six or seven miles below the present 
one, and led out the stream for hrigation, where not a drop of the 
fountain-water ever now flows. Other parts, fomdeen miles below 
the Kuruman gardens, are pointed out as having contained, within 
the memory of people now living, hippopotami, and pools sufficient 
to drown both men and cattle. This failure of water must be 
chiefly ascribed to the general desiccation of the country, but 
