first had access by
means of ships; and I expressed my belief that, as Christ had said,
the whole world would yet be enlightened by the Gospel. Pointing to the
great Kalahari desert, he said, "You never can cross that country to the
tribes beyond; it is utterly impossible even for us black men, except in
certain seasons, when more than the usual supply of rain falls, and
an extraordinary growth of watermelons follows. Even we who know the
country would certainly perish without them." Reasserting my belief
in the words of Christ, we parted; and it will be seen farther on that
Sechele himself assisted me in crossing that desert which had previously
proved an insurmountable barrier to so many adventurers.

As soon as he had an opportunity of learning, he set himself to read
with such close application that, from being comparatively thin, the
effect of having been fond of the chase, he became quite corpulent from
want of exercise. Mr. Oswell gave him his first lesson in figures, and
he acquired the alphabet on the first day of my residence at Chonuane.
He was by no means an ordinary specimen of the people, for I never went
into the town but I was pressed to hear him read some chapters of the
Bible. Isaiah was a great favorite with him; and he was wont to use the
same phrase nearly which the professor of Greek at Glasgow, Sir D.
K. Sandford, once used respecting the Apostle Paul, when reading his
speeches in the Acts: "He was a fine fellow, that Paul!" "He was a fine
man, that Isaiah; he knew how to speak." Sechele invariably offered me
something to eat on every occasion of my visiting him.

Seeing me anxious that his people should believe the words of Christ, he
once said, "Do you imagine these people will ever believe by your merely
talking to them? I can make them do nothing except by thrashing them;
and if you like, I shall call my head men, and with our litupa (whips of
rhinoceros hide) we will soon make them all believe together." The idea
of using entreaty and persuasion to subjects to become Christians--whose
opinion on no other matter would he condescend to ask--was especially
surprising to him. He considered that they ought only to be too happy to
embrace Christianity at his command. During the space of two years and
a half he continued to profess to his people his full conviction of the
truth of Christianity; and in all discussions on the subject he took
that side, acting at the same time in an upright manner in