produced in the country that I had made away with Sekeletu’s ivory.  I instructed Colonel Nunes, in case of my death, to sell the tusks and deliver the proceeds to my men; but I intended, if my life should be prolonged, to purchase the goods ordered by Sekeletu in England with my own money, and pay myself on my return out of the price of the ivory.  This I explained to the men fully, and they, understanding the matter, replied, “Nay, father, you will not die; you will return to take us back to Sekeletu.”  They promised to wait till I came back, and, on my part, I assured them that nothing but death would prevent my return.  This I said, though while waiting at Kilimane a letter came from the Directors of the London Missionary Society stating that “they were restricted in their power of aiding plans connected only remotely with the spread of the Gospel, and that the financial circumstances of the society were not such as to afford any ground of hope that it would be in a position, within any definite period, to enter upon untried, remote, and difficult fields of labor.”  This has been explained since as an effusion caused by temporary financial depression; but, feeling perfect confidence in my Makololo friends, I was determined to return and trust to their generosity.  The old love of independence, which I had so strongly before joining the society, again returned.  It was roused by a mistaken view of what this letter meant; for the directors, immediately on my reaching home, saw the great importance of the opening, and entered with enlightened zeal on the work of sending the Gospel into the new field.  It is to be hoped that their constituents will not only enable them to begin, but to carry out their plans, and that no material depression will ever again be permitted, nor appearance of spasmodic benevolence recur.  While I hope to continue the same cordial co-operation and friendship which have always characterized our intercourse, various reasons induce me to withdraw from pecuniary dependence on any society.  I have done something for the heathen, but for an aged mother, who has still more sacred claims than they, I have been able to do nothing, and a continuance of the connection would be a perpetuation of my inability to make any provision for her declining years.  In addition to “clergyman’s sore throat”, which partially disabled me from the work, my father’s death imposed new obligations; and a fresh source of income having been opened to me without my asking, I had no hesitation in accepting what would enable me to fulfill my duty to my aged parent as well as to the heathen.

If the reader remembers the way in which I was led, while teaching the Bakwains, to commence exploration, he will, I think, recognize the hand of Providence.  Anterior to that, when Mr. Moffat began to give the Bible—­the Magna Charta of all the rights and privileges of modern civilization—­to the Bechuanas, Sebituane went north, and spread the language into which he was translating the sacred oracles