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PACIFIC RESULTS.

cheering to us under these circumstances, for which we united in giving thanks to the Lord, who "giveth a banner to them that fear him, that it may be displayed because of the truth." He sent a fear into the hearts of the enemy, so that they did us no harm.

Before concluding this subject, it will not be uninteresting to notice the results. The party remained for two days; and Paul having informed me privately that it was the intention of some of the commando who had accompanied him, (having been disappointed of booty at the Kuruman,) not to return without it, and were for that purpose resolved to go as far as the Barolongs on the Molapo River, I embraced this opportunity of remonstrating with them on their intentions, describing the country, and the danger of such a villanous undertaking. They silenced me, protesting that they were ignorant of such a plan. All took their departure: Paul and his adherents went to their homes; and at half a day's journey from the station, twenty-seven of the number turned off, and directed their course towards the interior. Of this we were informed, but several weeks elapsed before we knew what had become of them. One evening, when about to retire to rest, a faint rap was heard at the door: it was one of these unhappy individuals, of the name of Isaacs: he had nothing on him but his shoes, having cut off his clothes to expedite his escape from a catastrophe which had destroyed nearly all his companions. From his statement it appeared that the party reached the Molapo, and had taken a drove of cattle, when they wandered from their course, and came in contact with the subjects of a powerful chief of the Batlapis. One of these, a

man of influence, they shot. The news was instantly conveyed to head-quarters: a plan was laid, by which they fell into an ambuscade, whence only nine narrowly escaped with their lives, leaving their all behind. This was among the last efforts of the hordes of ruthless desperadoes, who had for five years been scattering, throughout the tribes, devastation, famine, and death, excepting Jan Bloom, who removed to the eastward, and made repeated but unsuccessful attacks on the people of Moselekatse. They had filled up their cup of iniquity: there was no power either to arrest or overthrow them: human attempts only fanned the flame of discord: the Almighty sent forth his blast upon them, and they were made to drink of the bitter cup they had themselves poured out to others. The Bushmen, pestilence, prodigality, and beasts of prey, deprived them of their thousands of cattle; disease and famine thinned their camps; till, at length, in places which had echoed with the shouts of savage triumph over slaughtered tribes, and the noises of rude revelry and debauch, nothing was heard but the howl of the hyena, as an appropriate funeral dirge over the remains of a people, the victims of insubordination, ferocity, and lust.

These awful judgments on some were not without the most salutary results to others. So evidently was the hand of God displayed, that the atheistical Bechuanas were wonderfully impressed with the truth of an overruling Providence; which doctrine they had, as a nation, hitherto treated as visionary and false. They had ocular demonstration of what we had told them was the word of God, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and that Jehovah would scatter them

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DIVINE RETRIBUTION.

that delight in war. The notorious apostate, Jacob Cloete, the ringleader of that section which had scattered devastation among the Kuruman tribes, was impoverished by his companions in crime, and retired to Berend's people a beggar. He visited us as such at the Kuruman. It would not have been unnatural to expect that the Bechuanas, to whom he had been as the demon of destruction, would have treated him with contumely, or sought revenge. No; though they were yet comparative heathens, they looked on his tall, haggard form, and emaciated countenance, with sympathy; and seeing him look wild, and start, as if the air he breathed was charged with spectres, arrows, and death, they presented him with food, and retired, remarking, "O chueroe ki poitsego," "he is seized by terrors." He soon afterwards died, the victim of remorse and shame.

The above is a specimen of the head of a barbed spear, of which a warrior has generally one, though it is rarely used. The Bechuanas display much ingenuity in the manufacture of iron instruments.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Delightful change-Aaron Josephs baptized-Cheering fruitsBaptism of six converts-Expectations realized-Rejoicing with trembling-The Gospel civilizes-Native costume-Sewing-school commenced-Dawn of civilization-Novel fashions-Candlemaking adopted-Feelings and experience of the natives-The dying convert.

WHILE thus the judgments of the Lord were abroad among the tribes, the appearances on the station were indicative of the long-desired change. The temporary chapel was becoming too small. The readiness with which many answered the questions of Dr. William Brown's Catechism, which had been translated, and an increasing fixedness of attention to the preacher, were like the glimmering light on the eastern sky, so long watched for,—the presaging tints of the brighter rays which were, ere long, to gild the horizon,—the harbingers of the Sun of Righteousness arising on a benighted people.

Mr. Hamilton, who had been detained unusually long in the Colony and on the road, from severe drought and loss of oxen, to our great joy arrived in the end of August, 1828. This veteran and faithful labourer, who might with great propriety be called the father of the Bechuana mission, was beyond

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DELIGHTFUL CHANGE.

measure delighted to find, although our circumstances had been perilous during his absence, that now his mental energies were to be called into exercise in a way he had scarcely dared to anticipate. Shortly after this we were favoured with the manifest outpouring of the Spirit from on high. The moral wilderness was now about to blossom. Sable cheeks bedewed with tears attracted our observation. To see females weep was nothing extraordinary: it was, according to Bechuana notions, their province, and theirs alone. Men would not weep. After having, by the rite of circumcision, become men, they scorned to shed a tear. In family or national afflictions, it was the woman's work to weep and wail; the man's to sit in sullen silence, often brooding deeds of revenge and death. The simple Gospel now melted their flinty hearts; and eyes now wept, which never before shed the tear of hallowed sorrow. Notwithstanding our earnest desires and fervent prayers, we were taken by surprise. We had so long been accustomed to indifference, that we felt unprepared to look on a scene which perfectly overwhelmed our minds. Our temporary little chapel became a Bochim—a place of weeping; and the sympathy of feeling spread from heart to heart, so that even infants wept. Some, after gazing with extreme intensity of feeling on the preacher, would fall down in hysterics, and others were carried out in a state of great exhaustion.

Some months previous to these changes, Aaron Josephs, who was once a runaway slave, but who had, through the kind interference of G. Thompson, Esq., obtained his manumission for the sum of 1,500 rixdollars, the proceeds of ivory he had collected for