to act as his own surgeon, and the arm ever afterwards was of comparatively little service to him.

Livingstone shrank from inquirers who were anxious to have minute details as to the perils he had gone through; not that he really made light of them, but he had a horror of sensationalism, and avoided every temptation to enlarge upon difficulties which were inevitable at the time of their Occurrence. "In connection with the above incident," says a writer in the "British Quarterly Review" for April 1874, "we well remember how, when on a visit to England, he was eagerly questioned by a group of sympathetic friends as to what he was thinking of when in the lion's grasp, and how he quietly answered that he was thinking, with a feeling of disinterested curiosity, which part of him the brute would eat first."

In 1846 Livingstone removed to Chonuane, about forty or fifty miles N.E. of Mabotsa, the residence of Sechele, the chief of a numerous tribe of Bakwain. He was a remarkable man, as had also been his father and grandfather before him; the latter was a great traveller, and was the first to tell his people of the existence of a race of white

men.

The first time Livingstone held a public religious service, Sechele listened with much attention; and on receiving permission to ask questions regarding what he had heard, inquired if Livingstone's forefathers knew of a future judgment. On receiving an affirmative answer, and a description of the great white throne, and Him who shall sit on it, before whose face the heaven and earth shall flee away, &c., he said, "You startle me; these words make all my bones to shake; I have no more strength in me. But my forefathers were living at the same time yours were, and how is it that they did not send them word about these terrible things sooner? They all passed away into darkness, without knowing whither they were going." Questions like some

frequently asked by children of their elders, more easily sympathised with than answered.

So eager was Sechele to learn to read that he acquired a knowledge of the alphabet on the first day of Livingstone's residence at Chounane. Mr. Oswell, a gentleman of independent fortune travelling in the country, from a love of sport and adventure, and a desire to extend the geographical knowledge of South Africa-who afterwards joined Livingstone in his expedition to Lake Ngami-taught him arithmetic. After he was able to read, nothing gave him greater pleasure than the getting Livingstone to listen to his reading of the Bible. Isaiah was his favourite book; and he would frequently say, "He was a fine man, Isaiah; he knew how to speak." Sympathising with the difficulties encountered in converting his people, he offered to convert them in a body, and could hardly be made to understand Livingstone's objection to making Christians in a wholesale manner through the agency of whips made of rhinoceros hide.

In the Missionary Report for 1849 there appears the following interesting communication from Livingstone relative to the conversion of Sechele and its consequences :— "In addition to other effects produced by the Gospel among the Bakwains, circumstances have also developed considerable opposition; but it has been of a kind which has tended to encourage rather than depress, inasmuch as our most bitter opponents seem to entertain no personal animosity towards us, and never allude to their enmity to the Gospel in our presence, unless specially invited to state the grounds on which it rests. An event which has excited more open hostility than any other that has occurred was the profession of faith and subsequent reception of the chief into church-fellowship. As the circumstances which led us to receive his confession as genuine are somewhat peculiar, I will briefly mention them, in order to shew the propriety of the step which we have taken.

"Sechele, though generally intelligent, had imbibed to a great extent the prevailing superstitions of his country, and in addition to his being the chief rain-doctor of the tribe, there is evidence to shew that he was reckless of human life. He had the reputation among other tribes of being addicted to witchcraft, but he himself thought it highly meritorious to put all suspected witches to death.

"From the first day of our residence with the Bakwains to the present time the chief attended school and all our services with unvaried regularity. The first indication of deep feeling I observed in him was when, sitting together one day under our waggon, during the heat of noon, I endeavoured to describe the 'great white throne,' and 'the judgment seat,' as mentioned in the Book of Revelation. He said, 'These words shake all my bones-my strength is gone;' and when I spoke of the existence of our Lord, previous to his appearance among men, and of His Divine nature, Sechele was greatly surprised. Often, during the three years we have spent with this tribe, we have witnessed the power of the Word of God in elevating the mind and stimulating its affections; and so with the chief. As his knowledge increased, he grew bold in the faith, professed among his people his own firm belief in the truths of Christ, and expressed great thankfulness that the Gospel was sent to him while so many remained in darkness. The greatest sacrifice he had to make was the renunciation of polygamy. In respect to all other sins, the people generally had conceived an idea of their sinfulness, but they never imagined that in this practice there was any degree of moral turpitude. The superfluous wives of Sechele were decidedly the most amiable females of the town, and our best scholars; and hoping that their souls might also be given to us, we felt that it was not our duty otherwise to press the point in question than by publicly declaring the whole counsel of God. Shortly after, the chief sent two of them back to

their parents, with this message, that he could no longer retain them, as the Word of God had come between them and their daughters. With this we observed a gradual change in his disposition, and a steady improvement in his character; and as he also professed an earnest desire to observe the laws of Jesus, we felt no hesitation in receiving him to the fellowship of the church.

"A third wife was taken to her own tribe because she had no relatives among the Bakwains, and she left us with many tears. A fourth, although in the same situation, we thought might remain, because she has a little daughter. Each of the wives carried away all that belonged to her, and the chief supplied each of them with new clothing previous to their departure. As soon as it was known that he had renounced his wives on account of the Gospel, a general consternation seized both old and young—the town was as quiet as if it had been Sunday—not a single woman was seen going to her garden-pichos (or councils) were held during the night in order to intimidate him from his purpose; but after seeing him tried in various ways for a period of two months, we proceeded to administer to him the ordinance of baptism. Many of the spectators were in tears, but these were in general only tears of sorrow for the loss of their rain-maker, or the severance of ties of relationship. We commend this new disciple to your prayerful sympathies; and to the great God, our Saviour Jesus Christ, through the power of whose spirit alone we hope for success, be the undivided glory of his salvation !"

The drought which afflicted the country shortly after Livingstone settled among the people-and after they had removed to the Kolobeng, a stream forty miles distant from the previous settlement, where an experiment in irrigation, under the direction of Livingstone, was tried with much success for a time, until the parent stream became dried up was popularly believed to be the result of the evil

influence of the missionaries over the minds of the chief, the more especially as he had previously been a believer in rain-making, and had a high reputation among his people as a rain-doctor. After his conversion and baptism, he forswore the medicines and incantations with which he had previously charmed the rain-clouds to descend upon the land; and as this was attributed to Livingstone's influence, and the people were starving for want of food and water for months, it proved a great hindrance to the good work amongst them.

The Rain-maker is a most important official in savage countries where water is scarce, and periods of drought of frequent occurrence. When, after weeks or months of dry weather, the vegetation of the country is burned up and the fountains and streams turned into hollows, filled with loose sand, his influence is greater than that of the chief or king himself. So implicit is their belief in the power of this functionary that they will do anything at his bidding. If the rain fails to come at his bidding, as in the case of the witch-woman of our English rural districts, sacrifices, material or otherwise, are made at his suggestion to propitiate the mysterious power who controls the rain. Sometimes he will cause them to drag the bodies of the dead into the bush, and leave them to the hyenas instead of burying them. At other times he will demand the heart of a lion or a live baboon, or set them some like feat, the accomplishment of which will take time, trusting that in the interval the much coveted rain may come and save his credit. A common demand is for sheep and goats to kill, when endless methods have been tried, and the heavens "still remain as brass." The ignorant savages frequently slay the wretched imposter for his failure to make good his pretensions.

Notwithstanding their dislike to the new religion, its preacher and expounder lived amongst them in the most perfect safety. He possessed the secret of ingratiating