asleep, and a couple of natives approach him without fear.  One discharges an arrow, the point of which has been anointed with a subtle poison, made of the dried entrails of a species of caterpillar, while the other flings his skin cloak over his head.  The beast bolts away incontinently, but soon dies, howling and biting the ground in agony.  In the dark, or at all hours when breeding, the lion is an ugly enough customer; but if a man will stay at home by night, and does not go out of his way to attack him, he runs less risk in Africa of being devoured by a lion than he does in our cities of being run over by an omnibus—­so says Mr. Livingstone.

When the lion grows old he leads a miserable life.  Unable to master the larger game, he prowls about the villages in the hope of picking up a stray goat.  A woman of child venturing out at night does not then come amiss.  When the natives hear of one prowling about the villages, they say, “His teeth are worn; he will soon kill men,” and thereupon turn out to kill him.  This is the only foundation for the common belief that when the lion has once tasted human flesh he will eat nothing else.  A “man-eater” is always an old lion, who takes to cannibalism to avoid starvation.  When he lives far from human habitations, and so can not get goats or children, an old lion is often reduced to such straits as to be obliged to live upon mice, and such small deer.

Mr. Livingstone’s strictly missionary life among the Bakwains lasted eight or nine years.  The family arose early, and, after prayers and breakfast, went to the school-room, where men, women, and children were assembled.  School was over at eleven, when the husband set about his work as gardener, smith, or carpenter, while his wife busied herself with domestic matters—­baking bread, a hollow in a deserted ant-hill serving for an oven; churning butter in an earthen jar; running candles; making soap from ashes containing so little alkaline matter that the ley had to be kept boiling for a month or six weeks before it was strong enough for use.  The wife was maid-of-all-work in doors, while the husband was Jack-at-all-trades outside.  Three several times the tribe removed their place of residence, and he was so many times compelled to build for himself a house, every stick and brick of which was put in place by his own hands.  The heat of the day past, and dinner over, the wife betook herself to the infant and sewing schools, while the husband walked down to the village to talk with the natives.  Three nights in the week, after the cows had been milked, public meetings were held for instruction in religious and secular matters.  All these multifarious duties were diversified by attendance upon the sick, and in various ways aiding the poor and wretched.  Being in so many ways helpful to them, and having, besides, shown from the first that he could knock them up at hard work or traveling, we can not wonder that Livingstone was popular among the Bakwains, though conversions seem to have been of the rarest.  Indeed, we are not sure but Sechele’s was the only case.