all the
relations of life. He felt the difficulties of his situation long before
I did, and often said, "Oh, I wish you had come to this country before
I became entangled in the meshes of our customs!" In fact, he could not
get rid of his superfluous wives, without appearing to be ungrateful to
their parents, who had done so much for him in his adversity.

In the hope that others would be induced to join him in his attachment
to Christianity, he asked me to begin family worship with him in
his house. I did so; and by-and-by was surprised to hear how well he
conducted the prayer in his own simple and beautiful style, for he was
quite a master of his own language. At this time we were suffering from
the effects of a drought, which will be described further on, and none
except his family, whom he ordered to attend, came near his meeting.
"In former times," said he, "when a chief was fond of hunting, all
his people got dogs, and became fond of hunting too. If he was fond of
dancing or music, all showed a liking to these amusements too. If the
chief loved beer, they all rejoiced in strong drink. But in this case
it is different. I love the Word of God, and not one of my brethren will
join me." One reason why we had no volunteer hypocrites was the hunger
from drought, which was associated in their minds with the presence of
Christian instruction; and hypocrisy is not prone to profess a creed
which seems to insure an empty stomach.

Sechele continued to make a consistent profession for about three years;
and perceiving at last some of the difficulties of his case, and also
feeling compassion for the poor women, who were by far the best of our
scholars, I had no desire that he should be in any hurry to make a
full profession by baptism, and putting away all his wives but one. His
principal wife, too, was about the most unlikely subject in the tribe
ever to become any thing else than an out-and-out greasy disciple of
the old school. She has since become greatly altered, I hear, for the
better; but again and again have I seen Sechele send her out of church
to put her gown on, and away she would go with her lips shot out, the
very picture of unutterable disgust at his new-fangled notions.

When he at last applied for baptism, I simply asked him how he, having
the Bible in his hand, and able to read it, thought he ought to act. He
went home, gave each of his superfluous wives new clothing, and all his
own goods, which they had be