After a journey of four days from Griqua Town, we arrived, on the 10th of September, at the missionary station on the Kuruman fountain. The situation chosen for the site of the new station, and the appearance of the place, were of course the first things which attracted my attention; and I am happy to say that in both my expectations were exceeded. The scarcity of rain is a great barrier to improvement in this country, as a shower, to moisten the ground, is a rare event. The missionaries (Messrs. Hamilton and Moffat) assured me, that they had not, for five years, seen a drop of rain running on the surface of the ground, and their sole dependence for corn and vegetables is upon irrigation.

If cloudless skies and continual sunshine be favourable to happiness, the people of this country might be supposed to enjoy it in a high degree, for it is seldom that a single cloud is seen in the horizon. When we form our estimate of happiness, we seldom reflect how much of it arises from the power of contrast. Clouds and shades impart to a Bechuana a more lively idea of felicity, than sunshine and fine weather do to an Englishman.

While the missionaries resided at New Lattakoo, which is not more than nine or ten miles distant from the station on the Kuruman, with considerable labour they succeeded in bringing a small stream of water to the town; but it proved insufficient, and it was still of great importance to fix upon a spot where the requisite quantity of water might be procured. The fountain of the Kurruman rises at the bottom of a small hill, which ascends between forty and fifty feet above the level of the surrounding plains. The hill, which presents a flat surface, and the diameter of which is about three-quarters of a

mile, is composed of green stone and amygdaloid, intersected with veins of apparently crystallized quartz. The green stone is in large masses, embedded in lime; and, from the projections of the lower strata, it appears to rest upon a bed of coarse limestone. The Kuruman is the finest spring of water I have seen in Africa. Immediately at the source, and on a considerable declivity, it presents one stream, six feet in breadth, and nearly two feet in depth, rushing forth with considerable force. This body of water is joined by some smaller streams issuing from the same source; and, not more than a few hundred paces from the fountain, it spreads itself into a ford of considerable breadth, and about four inches in depth. The place chosen for the site of the institution was selected because the breadth of the valley, at that spot, affords the greatest quantity of land capable of irrigation, and it is not more than three miles below the spring. The first object of the missionaries was to cut a channel for the water; and they have now finished a ditch two miles in length, two feet in depth, and from three to five feet in breadth. This has been a very arduous, and certainly a great work for their strength. They had no assistance from the Bechuanas, who were not sufficiently impressed with the importance of the undertaking to take any part in it. Until they saw the water running into the ditch, they deemed it impossible, and treated the attempt with ridicule. But, when they saw it completed, their surprise was as great as their former scepticism; and it was amusing to see several ditches which they had dug, without the knowledge of the missionaries, immediately below the fountain, in the hope that the water would follow their spades and pickaxes up the sides of the adjoining heights. The

VOL. II.

I

Bechuanas are, however, now convinced of their error; and some of them are leading out the water to make gardens and corn-fields on an inclined plane, and are very much ashamed when any one diverts himself by referring to their former attempts.

When the missionaries first undertook this work, Mateebé, the king, or principal chief, of the tribe, promised to join them with his people; but it appears that his incredulity respecting its success, and the disturbed state of the country, have hitherto prevented him from fulfilling his promise. In the beginning of June last, he was attacked and plundered of some cattle. The alarm occasioned by this circumstance, together with reports of other meditated attacks, induced him to remove from Lattakoo nearer to the Griquas, to whom, particularly to their chief, Waterboer, he looked up for assistance and protection in danger; but Mahuri, his brother, and his people, are now at the missionary station.

With very great labour, the missionaries have succeeded in erecting a neat row of houses in the bottom of the valley; to each house is attached a large garden, enclosed with a neat fence. The gardens have been laid out, by Mr. Moffat, with much taste; and, from his knowledge of horticulture, they have been stocked with a variety of seeds and edible roots. In front of the houses, and at a distance of, perhaps, forty feet, is the canal by which the water has been led out from the river. Across this water-channel is a wooden bridge, leading to each house. Within ten feet of the house is the garden, from which it is entered by a gate; and along the whole line of the fence, the space between it and the water-course is planted with willows and

poplars. After the journey we had from Griqua Town, there was something very refreshing to us in the appearance of this sequestered and pleasing spot. Mr. Gleig and Captain Warren, who had visited it only a few days before, were quite delighted with the missionfamilies, with their labours, and with the rising beauty of the place. Should the missions continue to prosper in this place, and the same spirit of improvement which Mr. Moffat discovers continue to manifest itself, it will, in the course of a few years, when the plantation is a little further advanced, present a very pleasing object to the African traveller.

On Sunday, the 11th, I attended public worship. Mr. Hamilton preached in the morning, and Mr. Moffat catechized a few young people in the afternoon. We had service in English and in Dutch besides.

The attendance of the Bechuanas was small: they do not yet see the importance of eternal things. There were not more than forty of them present; but I was told that even this attendance is much greater than it formerly was, when all the people resided together. The females are much more averse to the change than the men: they appear to be much more strongly wedded to their superstitions, and, generally speaking, they not only refuse to attend worship themselves, but do all in their power to prejudice the minds of the men, and to detain them from attending the preaching of the gospel. The missionaries at this station can hardly be said to be doing more than labouring in hope, yet, discouraging as circumstances are, considerable ground has been gained.

Mr. Moffat is now able to address the Bechuanas in their own language. He has prepared some school

books for their instruction, which, together with some parts of the holy scriptures, have been printed in Eng, land, and are, by this time, in the possession of the missionaries and the people. The attendance and attention of the people are increasing.

Superstition is a natural growth of human nature in every climate, and in every soil; and in the absence of divine revelation, the most polished nations and the most powerful minds have not been able to shake themselves free from its delusions and terrors. When we look at the page of history, we observe the movements of armies hastened or delayed, battles lost or won, kingdoms preserved or overthrown, by the hopes or terrors infused into the minds of generals and armies, by an eclipse of the sun, a flight of birds, or an appear. ance in the entrails of a beast.

The different superstitions in the world have one common origin: they spring from confused ideas of an invisible agency. The elegant mythology of the Greeks, and the more vulgar superstition of the tribes of Africa, may be traced to the same source; and as the former maintained its influence till it fell before the light of Christianity, we have no reason to expect that the latter will die a natural death, or by other means.

In mentioning the following instances of Bechuana superstition, it is not my intention to enumerate all the superstitions of that people. The aspects of superstition among savage or barbarous tribes are so various and so trifling, and the resemblance between between them is so great, that on knowing the superstitions of one tribe, all is known that is worth the relating. Everything in a state of ignorance, which is not known, and which is involved in mystery, is the