The agents of the London Missionary Society were withdrawn from the country by 1821, and the Wesleyans appeared on the scene. With their early efforts is bound up one of the most tragic stories of missionary enterprise. William Threlfall, a young minister from Yorkshire, was seeking an opening for philanthropic labours among the Hottentots in the region of Warm Bath in the year 1825. He lay down to rest upon the ground one night after a long trek; while he slept his Bushman guide drew near with two accomplices, fell upon the defenceless man, and dealt him blow after blow until he lay dead at their feet.[14] William Threlfall is thus the missionary martyr of Namaqualand. In 1834 the only European resident in Great Namaqualand was Edward Cook, who had charge of the Warm Bath station, renamed by Cook Nisbett Bath, in honour of Mr. James Nisbett, a generous supporter of the Mission. He laboured among the Bondelswaarts. Cook was the first white man to take his wife into the wilds of Damaraland. The two people had a most adventurous journey northward to the Windhoek Valley, to Gobabis, and then across to Walvis Bay, and they actually had their young children with them. Lions proved a great source of anxiety to Mrs. Cook. The following extract from Cook’s journal affords an interesting glimpse of the amenities of travel in those days. “During the night we came across a rhinoceros grazing, the snorting of which frightened our servant girl, who was riding an ox. She threw herself off and ran to take shelter in the wagon. The oxen, being accustomed to be chased by wild beasts, took fright at her screaming, and furiously galloped off. Those who had not heard the rhinoceros thought a lion had attacked us, and the greatest terror prevailed until an ox, getting his leg entangled in the harness, fell, and the wagon was stopped.”[15]