PREFACE After a lapse of nearly twenty years, a new edition of the Secwana vocabulary ought to be larger and more correct than the first edition. It will, I think, be found that this is the case, though there will still be defects. In such a work, mistakes and omissions are not easily avoided. In some respects the Secwana language is very rich in words, and different words have but a very slight differ- ence in meaning. Look, for instance, at the list of words under the headings Break, Cut, Take, and Turn. On the other hand, there are some respocts in which the language is decidedly poor; and it is no easy matter for an enquirer to avoid being led astray as he seeks for words to express ideas which experience and use have made familiar to him, but which are indistinct, if not foreign, in the mind of his native helper. No doubt variations in spelling will still be found in the vocabulary and other books. Some of these are owTing to varying opinions, and others to a difficulty in deciding upon the proper letters to use. Even in books printed at Kuruman, words will be found which are spelt in more ways than one. In some cases the variations are owing to differences in tribal use in the north and south. These differences are found especially in words written with o and e and ts and tsh, lo and le. When the learner meets with such variations which he is able to test by ear, he must not conclude that mistakes have been made. Neither let the learner conclude when he meets with a word not known in the part where he lives, that this word must be wrong. Some words are in use in one part of the country which are not even known to the natives of other parts. I have met with some words in books, and received others from missionaries, which my Motlhapifi helper knew nothing about. These words I have indicated s