put a stop to the slave-trade in that quarter.
It is probable that the mere supply of English manufacturers
on Sebituane's part will effect this, for they did not like
the slave-trade, and promised to abstain. I think it will be
impossible to make a fair commencement unless I can secure
two years devoid of family cares. I shall be obliged to go
southward, perhaps to the Cape, to have my uvula excised and
my arm mended (the latter, if it can be done, only). It has
occurred to me that, as we must send our children to England,
it would be no great additional expense to send them now
along with their mother. This arrangement would enable me to
proceed, and devote about two or perhaps three years to this
new region; but I must beg your sanction, and if you please
let it be given or withheld as soon as you can conveniently,
so that it might meet me at the Cape. To orphanize my
children will be like tearing out my bowels, but when I can
find time to write you fully you will perceive it is the only
way, except giving up that region altogether.

"Kuruman will not answer as a residence, nor yet the Colony.
If I were to follow my own inclinations, they would lead me
to settle down quietly with the Bakwains, or some other small
tribe, and devote some of my time to my children; but
_Providence seems to call me to the regions beyond_, and if I
leave them anywhere in this country, it will be to let them
become heathens. If you think it right to support them, I
believe my parents in Scotland would attend to them
otherwise."

Continuing the subject in a more leisurely way a few weeks later, he
refers to the very great increase of traffic that had taken place since
the discovery of Lake 'Ngami two years before; the fondness of the
people for European articles; the numerous kinds of native produce
besides ivory, such as beeswax, ostrich feathers, etc., of which the
natives made little or no use, but which they would take care of if
regular trade were established among them. He thought that if traders
were to come up the Zambesi and make purchases from the producers they
would both benefit themselves and drive the slave-dealer from the
market. It might be useful to establish a sanatorium, to which
missionaries might come from less healthy districts to recruit. This
would diminish the reluctance of missionarie