A BREAK-DOWN. 
295 
heavy days ahead, I shall leave the wagon, and ride 
on, as I can no longer control my impatience. 
Sechele makes a great show of being very reli¬ 
gious, saying a long grace before and after meat on 
every occasion ; and he has been holding forth to 
his people and singing half the day. He will not 
allow a shot to be fired or any work to be done, 
and certainly sets a most praiseworthy example him¬ 
self. He is most anxious to get home, but will not 
travel on Sunday on any account. I cannot tell 
whether he is sincere, or only does so through fear 
of Moffat, a Scotch missionary, who has all the 
Kaffirs under his finger and thumb, and can do just 
what he likes with them. He has been living very 
long amongst them, educates the different chiefs’ 
children, and has thoroughly gained their confi¬ 
dence. 
Wth .— On the 9th, the hind axle of Sechele’s 
wagon broke, but luckily not till we got to Batla- 
narmi, where there was a little water at the bottom 
of two deep holes, which we got at by means of a 
ladder formed of a tree with several branches. We 
lowered in the tree, on every branch of which was 
a Masara, who handed up the water in a large iron 
can, and we cut- a drain running into a sort of dam, 
and by this means most of our oxen got a small 
portion ; we brought them two at a time, and my 
poor oxen had to go without till the following 
morning, as it was owing to Sechele’s forethought 
that there was any water at all. He had despatched 
