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Speaks of the Directors and the Committee; has suffered eighth bout of fever and has lost weight; refers to daguerrotype portraits entrusted to Mrs De Smit, which now appear to have been lost; refers to medal [silver medal awarded in 1852 by the Geographical Society of Paris for the discovery of Lake Ngami] - to be kept by Thompson at Cape Town; after delay at Kuruman made good progress until they reached Lat. 19 16' South, where all of his people affected by fever; travelled through densely wooded country, "but for two Bushmen who managed the loose oxen and otherwise assisted, we could not have moved"; country adjacent to Chobe flooded; took a pontoon presented by Messrs Webb and Codrington and crossed the river Sanshureh and went North to find the Chobe; 4 days wading through reeds; reached a Makololo village; people had heard of his approach and sent out two parties in search of them; canoes sent down by the chief, waggons transported across the country and river to reach the town; reception from the Makololo chief [Sekeletu] - compares him with his father Sebitoane [Sebetwane]; comments on the chief's reluctance to learn to read; just returned from 9 week tour through the country in search of a suitable place for a mission - describes the geography of the rivers in detail, i.e. the Borotse or Makalaka, the Leeamby, the Loeti, the Leeba or Lonta (Londa); has not found a salubrious spot and so must "brave the fever"; has met with slave traders described as "Arabs from Zanguebar, subjects of the Imaum of Muscat" and "Portuguese from the farthest trading station inland on the West"; will go West as soon as the rains commence; has preached in many spots "where the name of Christ was never heard before"; has travelled in the company of 160 men in 33 canoes; gives his impressions of the greater extent of "heathenism" compared to the Southern tribes; fish and bracelets delivered to Mamochisane (who has given over the chieftainship of the Makololo to her brother); approves of Thompson's conduct in the case of Sechele [Sechele had visited Cape Town in Apr-Jun 1853, requesting to be sent to England at the expense of the LMS so that he might appeal to Queen Victoria in person for redress against the Boers - Thompson had refused to pay for his passage but raised a loan to defray the cost of his journey back to Bechuanaland]; reiterates that in the years before Sechele's conversion he found him "sincere and most consistent".
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