efficient labourer, but a seasonable assistant in the existing state of the mission; and his superior skill was afterwards called into operation, by raising the roof of the largest mission chapel in South Africa, which, in that remote region, in the absence of cranes, required all the muscular force we could collect. This was a new era in the mission, and the press was soon called into operation, when lessons, spelling books, and catechisms were prepared for the schools. Although many of the natives had been informed how books were printed, nothing could exceed their surprise when they saw a white sheet, after disappearing for a moment, emerge spangled with letters. After a few noisy exclamations, one obtained a sheet with which he bounded into the village, showing it to every one he met, and asserting that Mr. Edwards and I had made it in a moment, with a round black hammer (a printer's ball) and a shake of the arm. The description of such a juggling process, soon brought a crowd to see the segatisho (press), which has since proved an auxiliary of vast importance to our cause.

Our

Great was our joy to find, on our return after a year's absence, that Mr. Hamilton, our veteran brother, was well, and that the station continued in a prosperous state. two French brethren had suffered severely from an attack of illness, but were recovering. Mr. Rolland had gone to look out for a station among the Bahurutsi, from whom he returned with a very flattering report; and immediately the necessary preparations were made for commencing operations at Mosega.

Among the treasures brought with us from the Colony, was a box of materials for clothing, for the encouragement of such as were making efforts to clothe themselves. This was the first supply of the kind, and nothing could be more seasonable to a people just beginning to emerge from barbarism, the impoverished remains of scattered tribes, but the first-fruits of the Gospel among the Bechuanas. The needy were supplied, and many a heart was made glad. It is impossible for the author to revert to that interesting season, without recalling with gratitude the memory of one who took the liveliest interest in the Bechuanas. To the late Miss Lees, the constant and beloved friend of Mrs. M., we were indebted for active exertions amongst the friends in the congregation of Grosvenor Street Chapel, Manchester, not only in procuring this token of kindness for the poor natives, but subsequent supplies; she also collected a sufficient sum to supply us with a small fount of type: services

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recorded in the annals of the heavenly world whither she is gone.

Having thus obtained materials to work upon, and Mrs. M. now having the effective co-operation of Mrs. Edwards and Mrs. Baillie, a sewing school, on a much larger scale than before, was carried on, to the great comfort and improvement of the natives. The increase of our congregation obliged us to build an additional wing to the chapel, and several members were received into the church. This season of pleasure was not without some alloy, for the smallpox entered the country, and the epidemic, with which old men only were previously acquainted, swept away many of the inhabitants; and among those who died on our station, was one of my own children. This was a fearful visitation, and appeared to have been first brought by the wreck of a commando, which returned from an attack on Moselekatse.

Berend Berend, labouring under an unaccountable delulusion that he was destined to sweep Moselekatse, and his gang of blood guilty warriors, from the fine pastures and glens of the Bakone country, and thus emancipate the aborigines from their thraldom, collected a heterogeneous multitude of Griquas from every party except that of Waterboer, Corannas, and other tribes, with sentiments as varied as the costume they wore, but unanimous in their enmity to the Matabele king, and sallied forth on what he considered a noble but daring enterprise, which he might well expect would immortalize his name as a benefactor of mankind. He had not, however, counted the cost, nor thought of the danger of joining hands with the wicked; and unfortunately his valued missionary, the Rev. T. L. Hodgson, of the Wesleyan Society, whose well-known superior judgment, and principles of love and mercy, would have prevented the catastrophe, was absent from the station. The cavalcade of wagons and horsemen, with their magazines of destruction, moved towards the dominions of the haughty tyrant, while the company received fresh accessions from the Barolongs and others, who expected to come in for a share of the spoil. Success attended their arms, while the lovely landscape seemed to invite them to become lords of the wide domain, which had groaned under a tyrant's rod. Moselekatse and his nobles were taken by surprise, and the "mighty Elephant" was ready to take refuge in his native jungle. The men who defended his outposts teeming with cattle, either fell or fled in consternation, till the mass of captured cattle became too unwieldy to be guarded even by such a force.

The sight of fat oxen, and the lowing of kine, captivated their souls; many an evil eye was fixed on the spoil, and anxiety to obtain the largest share began to rankle in the breasts of the victors. They had slaughtered and eaten to the full. The female prisoners had warned them of their danger. "Shall a Kafir dare to fight with a Griqua ?" was the evening's watchword; but amidst the reckless band there were quaking hearts, and consciences gnawing like the worm that dieth not. Without a picket, a sentinel, or a watch, all self-secure, they fell asleep. Before the morning dawned, just as the waning moon dipped behind the mountain peak,

a chosen band of veteran Matabele rolled over the slumbering host, scattering confusion, terror, and death. While many never awoke, some fled in wild dismay; and when the curtain of night was withdrawn, a scene was exhibited—I leave the imagination of the reader to depict.

In a few days Berend, of whose sincerity no one could doubt, and who had remained by the wagons some days' journey distant from the catastrophe, heard the tale of horror; and, now half-convinced that he was not the man to give redemption to the Bakone, returned, to be greeted by the widow's wail. It may not be improper to state here, that while the southern portion of the Matabele country was thus made the theatre of bloodshed, a large party of our people were on a hunting expedition in the very centre of Moselekatse's domains, and would have been massacred, by a company with which they came in contact, but for the circumstance of their being from the Kuruman.

It was about six months after these events, that our French brethren set off to Mosega, and having led out the water, they built a house, and formed gardens, hard by thousands of the Bahurutsi, with the cheering prospect of successfully planting the standard of the Gospel amidst that people. But the rapid extension of Moselekatse's dominion-the cupidity and overbearing conduct of his ambassadors to Mokatla, chief of the Bahurutsi-and the duplicity and cunning of the latter, who, it must be admitted, had but too good reason to dread so formidable a neighbour-soon compelled the missionaries to retire. The Bahurutsi afterwards fled from their country, which was taken by the Matabele, and the brethren went to Motito.* As this place was within the range of our labours, the brethren

*This spot, nearly forty miles N.N.E. of the Kuruman, was at that time only a fountain, and is now a lovely village, containing a very considerable population.