his own children. They build their huts around his, and the greater
the number of children, the more his importance increases. Hence
children are esteemed one of the greatest blessings, and are always
treated kindly. Near the centre of each circle of huts there is a spot
called a "kotla", with a fireplace; here they work, eat, or sit and
gossip over the news of the day. A poor man attaches himself to the
kotla of a rich one, and is considered a child of the latter. An
under-chief has a number of these circles around his; and the collection
of kotlas around the great one in the middle of the whole, that of the
principal chief, constitutes the town. The circle of huts immediately
around the kotla of the chief is composed of the huts of his wives and
those of his blood relations. He attaches the under-chiefs to himself
and his government by marrying, as Sechele did, their daughters, or
inducing his brothers to do so. They are fond of the relationship to
great families. If you meet a party of strangers, and the head man's
relationship to some uncle of a certain chief is not at once proclaimed
by his attendants, you may hear him whispering, "Tell him who I am."
This usually involves a counting on the fingers of a part of his
genealogical tree, and ends in the important announcement that the head
of the party is half-cousin to some well-known ruler.

Sechele was thus seated in his chieftainship when I made his
acquaintance. On the first occasion in which I ever attempted to hold
a public religious service, he remarked that it was the custom of his
nation, when any new subject was brought before them, to put questions
on it; and he begged me to allow him to do the same in this case. On
expressing my entire willingness to answer his questions, he inquired if
my forefathers knew of a future judgment. I replied in the affirmative,
and began to describe the scene of the "great white throne, and Him who
shall sit on it, from 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." I got out of the difficulty
by explaining the geographical barriers in the North, and the gradual
spread of knowledge from the South, to which we