Missionary Travels and Researches in South AfricaLivingstone, David
Religion
Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa
Livingstone, David
Missions -- South Africa; South Africa -- Description and travel
The scavenger beetle is one of the most useful of all insects, as it
effectually answers the object indicated by the name. Where they abound,
as at Kuruman, the villages are sweet and clean, for no sooner are
animal excretions dropped than, attracted by the scent, the scavengers
are heard coming booming up the wind. They roll away the droppings of
cattle at once, in round pieces often as large as billiard-balls; and
when they reach a place proper by its softness for the deposit of their
eggs and the safety of their young, they dig the soil out from beneath
the ball till they have quite let it down and covered it: they then lay
their eggs within the mass. While the larvae are growing, they devour
the inside of the ball before coming above ground to begin the world for
themselves. The beetles with their gigantic balls look like Atlas with
the world on his back; only they go backward, and, with their heads
down, push with the hind legs, as if a boy should roll a snow-ball with
his legs while standing on his head. As we recommend the eland to John
Bull, and the gigantic frog to France, we can confidently recommend this
beetle to the dirty Italian towns and our own Sanitary Commissioners.
In trying to benefit the tribes living under the Boers of the Cashan
Mountains, I twice performed a journey of about three hundred miles to
the eastward of Kolobeng. Sechele had become so obnoxious to the Boers
that, though anxious to accompany me in my journey, he dared not
trust himself among them. This did not arise from the crime of
cattle-stealing; for that crime, so common among the Caffres, was never
charged against his tribe, nor, indeed, against any Bechuana tribe. It
is, in fact, unknown in the country, except during actual warfare. His
independence and love of the English were his only faults. In my last
journey there, of about two hundred miles, on parting at the River
Marikwe he gave me two servants, "to be," as he said, "his arms to serve
me," and expressed regret that he could not come himself. "Suppose we
went north," I said, "would you come?" He then told me the story
of Sebituane having saved his life, and expatiated on the far-famed
generosity of that really great man. This was the first time I had
thought of crossing the Desert to Lake Ngami.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account