Basutos

“ Then I sang out to the Kaffirs, “The Basutos are on us. We go to Tampel for refuge. Run!”
My word! they did run. I never saw athletes make better time over the first quarter of a mile. We ran, too, or at least the horse did, I hanging on to the stirrup and Anscombe holding both the rifles beneath his arm. But the beast was tired, also blown out with that morning feed of mealies, so our progress was not very fast. When we were about two hundred yards from the wagon I looked back and saw the Basutos beginning to arrive. ”

“ Some of the hills on the Drakensberg side are 9500 feet above sea-level. The Basutos are a branch of the Bechuana family, of the Barolong tribe, the same family as Montsioa, who left Basutoland when young, and occupied the country he now holds on the Molapo river. The small district of Thaba Nchu belonged to these people, which was separated from Basutoland by the Free State, and in fact that state surrounded it ”

“ Since the year 1833, Frtnch and other Protestant missionaries have been labouring in their midst, studying the national usages and contributing to modify them. Completely hemmed in as they are by the territories already occupied by European settlers — Cape Colony, Transvaal, Natal — the Basutos have been fain to adapt themselves to a new environment, and this they have doue with a remarkable degree of intelligence. In most other lands contact with the whites has been followed by the impoverishment, decay, and even extinction of the inferior races. ”

“ The Basutos, Zulus, &c., come to be fed naturally, whereas the Shangan is like a wild beast, and only seems to crawl away and die. So much is this so that on Mr. Vere Stent's ordering his Basuto servant to make some soup for a starving Shangan he had picked up, the Basuto indignantly protested that "the Shangans were bad men and killed missionaries," however, the man in question was rescued in time and is still living. They form luckily an insignificant proportion of the native community. ”

“ For some years of their youth the sons of the chiefs are obliged to lead the lives of simple herdsmen, and the chiefs themselves at times leave their royal residences to tend the herds and lead them to fresh pastures. In the villages the central space near the khotla, or chief's residence, is always reserved for the cattle. But to this national industry, chief source of their prosperity, the Basutos add an intelligent syst-em of agriculture. Already several thousands of ploughs have been introduced into their upland valleys ”

“ For instance, a savage seeing one of his family in a dream can not imagine that the image is independent of the organic substance of the personage in question; and he will see the same relation between the two as between a body and its image reflected from the surface of the water. Thus the Basutos think that if the shadow of a man is projected upon the water the crocodiles will obtain possession of the man. A similar identification may be pushed to the point that some tribes are known which use the same word to designate the soul, the image, and the shadow. ”

“ When this is done the rest is eaten, and the provision for the year is considered pure and fit to eat.304 Here the sacrifice of the first-fruits to the gods is the prominent idea, which comes out again in the custom of leaving in the threshing-floor a little hollow filled with grain, as a thank-offering to these powerful beings.305 Still the Basutos retain a lively sense of the sanctity of the corn in itself; for, so long as it is exposed to view, all defiled persons are carefully kept from it. ”

“ Basutoland (250) , a fertile, healthy, grain-growing territory in S. Africa, SE. of the Orange Free State, under protection of the British crown, of the size of Belgium; yields large quantities of maize; the natives keep large herds of cattle.
Basutos, a S. African race of the same stock as the Kaffirs, but superior to them in intelligence and industry.
Batangas, a port in the island of Luzon, one of the Philippine Islands, which has a considerable trade.
Batavia (105) , the capital of Java, on the N. coast, and of the Dutch possessions in the Eastern Archipelago ”

“ Some sort of belief in the transmigration of souls is evidently indulged in by the Basuto, for they will tell you quite solemnly that such and such a snake is the spirit of So-and-so's grandfather, and that the spirit of another ancestor has revisited the earth in the form of a dog or baboon. They firmly believe in the efficacy of charms, or certain portions of an animal or human being to ward off the evil spirits, or to give courage or special strength, or again to endow with "second sight." The charms are worn on the body ”

“ The chief wars, apart from tribal disturbances, in which the Basuto have been engaged, are the Basuto-Dutch War, 1863-1868; the Morosi Campaign in 1879; and the Gun War in 1880-1881.
The Basuto-Dutch War of 1863 to 1868 was caused by the long-continued plundering of the Basuto all along the border. At that time Mosheshue was growing old, his people were half-starving savages, with large bands of cannibals among them.
The Orange Free State was rich in grain and in flocks and herds; the Mosuto is always at heart a cattle thief; he knows no temptation so great as that of "cattle lifting." ”

“ The weeding is always done by the women. In drought the women used to carry water in their earthenware pots to water the "lands," even the small children helping in this work.
A "knife" was merely a flat strip of native iron about as broad as two fingers and sharpened round the edges.
The seeds used by the Basuto were millet, or "Kaffir corn," maize, or "mealies," and a species of sweet reed known as "Intsué," also pumpkins, and in times of famine they lived upon the seed of the long rank grass, which they call "Moseka."
When the crops were ripe the whole village went out to gather them. ”

“ They guide them by hitting the horns on the opposite side from the direction in which they wish them to go. A Basutoland ox is seldom cross, and rarely kicks, very different from the vicious animals I saw in the Colony when I first came out. As a Mosuto's chief wealth lies in the number of cattle he possesses, he naturally takes a great interest in them, and acts of cruelty towards them are rare.
Almost all the heathen males possess at least two or three wives, and the families as a rule are large, most women having an average of from six to eight children. ”

“ Now the custom of the Basuto, when any one falls into the water and is not found, is to drive cattle into the place where the person is supposed to have fallen, as they will bring him out. Many cattle had been driven into the different pools of water near Morongoe's village, but as they had failed to bring his father, Tsietse knew it was not much use looking near home. Accordingly, one day he went to a large pond a long distance off, and there he asked the frogs to help him in his search. ”

“ The Basuto have only two meals a day, one corresponding to our breakfast, before the day's work begins; the other at sunset. The women prepare the food, while the men look after the cattle and superintend the milking. The men eat by themselves first, the women and children waiting until they have finished. The women carry the water, prepare the "lisu," or fuel, and do all the household work before going to help in the "land." The "lisu" is made from the manure in the cattle, sheep, and goat kraals. ”

“ From Kamlot’s description I visualized the basto as an enormous boar with horns, or a buffalo with the jaws and teeth of a carnivore, and judged that its twelve hundred pounds of weight would render it a most formidable beast. I asked him with what weapons they hunted the animal.
“Some prefer arrows, others spears,” he explained, “and it is always handy to have a low branched tree near by,” he added with a grin.
“They are bellicose?” I asked.
“Very. When a basto appears upon the scene, man is as often the hunted as the hunter, but we are not hunting bastos now. ”

“ From the striker king-post, were suspended ropes of climbers to which men could apply their strength and direction. Like a battering ram, this king-post could be driven end-onward against the mighty red-iridescent sphere.
Here was where Ngurn officiated and functioned religiously for himself and the twelve tribes under him. Bassett laughed aloud, almost with madness, at the thought of this wonderful messenger, winged with intelligence across space, to fall into a bushman stronghold and be worshipped by ape-like, man-eating and head-hunting savages. ”

“ The Basuto believe that in the big pool at the foot of each falls lives a sacred reptile, somewhat resembling a snake, with [Pg 17] a head like a sheep. It is the spirit of the waters, and is always attended by a rainbow.
The largest river in Basutoland is the Sinkou, or Orange River, which rises in the Malutis and passes through the southern districts, forming the border between Herschel and the Orange River Colony. ”

“ Interest in the Basuto tribe could not but be deepened from the touching incident that in February of this year a feast for the little matchbox-makers was provided from the contributions of Basuto children,—those who had been blessed through the Lord's long-tried labourers, Mr. and Mrs. Dyke. How little could any one then anticipate the deep waters through which those servants of the Lord have since been called to pass.
The workers' meetings at the Home of Industry are often a time of mingled joy and sorrow. ”

“ BASHAN, or BASAN, one of the most fertile cantons of Canaan, which was bounded on the west by the river Jordan, on the east by the mountains of Gilead, on the south by the brook of Jabbok, and on the north by the land of Geshur. The whole kingdom took its name from the hill of Bashan, which is situated in the middle of it, and by the Greeks is called Batanæa. It had no less than sixty walled towns in it, beside villages. It afforded an excellent breed of cattle, and stately oaks, and was, in short, a plentiful and populous country. ”

“ Bassett remembered that at the time, in lucid moments, he had likened himself to a wounded bull pursued by plains’ coyotes too cowardly to battle with him for the meat of him, yet certain of the inevitable end of him when they would be full gorged. As the bull’s horns and stamping hoofs kept off the coyotes, so his shot-gun kept off these Solomon Islanders, these twilight shades of bushmen of the island of Guadalcanal.
Came the day of the grass lands. Abruptly, as if cloven by the sword of God in the hand of God, the jungle terminated. ”

“ For a girl the correct dancing costume consisted of the fringe round the hips, the anklets of skin and pebbles, and a head-dress made of the crest of the golden-crested crane and other crested birds. The married women simply don their best skins and hold a more or less fantastic stick in their hands.
Since European traders have settled in the country the Basuto have taught themselves to [Pg 30] make wire and bead necklaces and bangles of really remarkable attractiveness, their bead work being most elaborate. ”

“ He faded as the Southern Cross rose higher in the sky, till even Balatta knew that he would be dead ere the nuptial date determined by his taboo. Ngurn made pilgrimage personally and gathered the smoke materials for the curing of Bassett's head, and to him made proud announcement and exhibition of the artistic perfectness of his intention when Bassett should be dead. As for himself, Bassett was not shocked. Too long and too deeply had life ebbed down in him to bite him with fear of its impending extinction. ”

“ Yet therein was usually to be found his favourite crony and gossip, Ngurn, always willing for a yarn or a discussion, the while he sat in the ashes of death and in a slow smoke shrewdly revolved curing human heads suspended from the rafters. For, through the months' interval of consciousness of his long sickness, Bassett had mastered the psychological simplicities and lingual difficulties of the language of the tribe of Ngurn and Balatta and Vngngn--the latter the addle-headed young chief who was ruled by Ngurn, and who, whispered intrigue had it, was the son of Ngurn. ”

“ But if I was Cantine, and you ain’t goin’ to perforate Cantine on sight, what in Hades do you mean?”
“Mean?” echoed Bassett. “Your gall is sure chilled steel and case-hardened on top. Do you think as me or any other white man’s goin’ to eat, drink or sleep with or breathe the same air as you? You as broke the bond of bread and blanket, the Northland law as no man ever breaks, and lives to boast of it! Days on end I seen you sit at table with my pardner Sark under his own roof in White Pass City. ”

“ Many pictures, unrelated, came and went in Bassett’s mind as he reviewed that period of his terrible wanderings. He remembered invading another village of a dozen houses and driving all before him with his shot-gun save, for one old man, too feeble to flee, who spat at him and whined and snarled as he dug open a ground-oven and from amid the hot stones dragged forth a roasted pig that steamed its essence deliciously through its green-leaf wrappings. ”

“ Among the natives an alien is often believed to be an adept in magic more effective than that practised by their own local tribal doctors, and the sorcery of the Basuto, being associated with the awful, mysterious, and cloudy mountains of his (in parts) almost impenetrable land, is held to be very potent indeed.
Now, an old Basuto, named Lotuba, dwelt high up in the valley in which Sikulumè’s kraal was situated. Lotuba was famed far and near for his skill as a wizard. ”

“ The beast stands very high at the shoulders but slopes downward rapidly to the rump. It has a tremendous depth of shoulder and exceedingly short, stocky fore legs, which are supplied with three toed feet. The fore legs carry fully three-quarters of the beast's weight. The muzzle is similar to that of a boar, except that it is broader, with heavy, curved tusks.
The basto is an ill tempered, omnivorous brute, always looking for trouble. Between him and the tharban, Duare and I became most proficient tree climbers during the first few days that we wandered through the forest. ”