OF the Basutos I have said something in my attempt to tell the story of the Orange Free State; but the tribe still occupy so large a space in South Africa and has made itself so conspicuous in South African affairs as to require some further short mention for the elucidation of South African history. They are a people who have been moved, up and down, about South Africa and have thus travelled much, who have come to be located on the land they now hold partly as refugees and partly as conquerors, who thirty years ago had a great Chief called Moshesh of whom some have asserted that he was a Christian, and others that he was a determined Savage, who are still to be found in various parts of South Africa, and who perhaps possess in their head-quarters of Basuto Land the very best agricultural soil on the continent. There are at present supposed to be about 127,000 of them settled on this land, among whom there would be according to the general computation about 21,000 fighting warriors. The fighting men are estimated to be a sixth of the whole tribe,—so that every adult male not incapacitated by age or misfortune is counted as a fighting man. To imagine, however, that if the Basutos were to go to war they could bring an army of 20,000 men into the field, would be to pay an unmerited compliment to their power of combination, to their commissariat supplies, and to their general patriotism. But as in late years they have bought a great many ploughs, as they are great growers of corn, and as they have become lovers of trade, lovers of money, growers of wool, and friends of the English,—as they are loyal English subjects,—we will not be indignant with them on account of any falling off in their military capacity.
The Basutos are not Kafirs or Zulus. They are a branch of the Bechuanas a large tribe or rather race of Natives whose own territory lies west of the Transvaal, and between that and the great Kalahari Desert. I have already spoke of the Baralongs of Thaba ’Ncho as having come out from among the same race. Were I to say much of the Bechuanas I should find myself wandering again all over South Africa. I will therefore not pursue them further, merely remarking that they too are become irrepressible, and that before long we shall find ourselves compelled to annex one branch of them after another in connection with Griqualand West and the Diamond Fields.
The first record, in date, which I have read of the Basutos is in a simple volume written by a Missionary, the Rev. E. Cassalis, who was one of a party of French Protestants sent out nearly 50 years ago from Paris to the Cape with the double object of comforting the descendants of the French emigrants and of converting the Natives. It was the fate of M. Cassalis,—who though he writes in English I presume to have been a Frenchman,—to establish a mission at a place called Moriah in Basutoland in 1833, and to write a book about Basuto Manners. He does not really tell us very much about the people, as, with laudable enthusiasm, he is more intent on the ways of Providence than on the details of history. If hardships and misfortunes come he recognises them as precious balms. If they are warded off he sees the special mercy of the Lord to him and his flock. The hyænas were allowed to take his sheep, but an “inexorable lion,” who made the “desert echo with the majestic sounds of his voice,” was not permitted by Providence to touch himself. Something, however, is to be gleaned from his tale. The people among whom he had come were harassed terribly by enemies. They were continually attacked by Moselekatze, the Chief of the Matabeles, whom M. Cassalis calls Zulus;[15]—and also by roaming bands of the Korannas, a tribe of Bedouin South African Savages, only one degree, if one degree, better than the Bushmen. With these Moshesh was always fighting, entrenching himself when hard pressed on a high rock called Thaba Bosio or Thaba Bosigo, from whence he would hurl down stones upon his assailants very much to their dismay. The Basutos seem to have been a brave people, but reduced by their enemies to very hard straits, so that they were driven by want, in those comparatively modern days,—for we are speaking of a period within the lifetime of the father of the existing Chief of the tribe,—to have resort to cannibalism for support.
It has been asserted, with general truth, that cannibalism has not been a vice of South African Natives. It was not found among the Hottentots, nor even among the Bushmen except with rare instances, nor among the Kafirs or Zulus. There is no reason to believe that the Basutos brought the practice with them from among their ancestors the Bechuanas. But there is ample evidence that they practised it during the time of their wars with the Matabeles and Korannas, and reason to suppose that it has been carried on in a hidden, shame-faced way, in opposition to the endeavours of their Chiefs, down to within a very modern date. M. Cassalis tells us the stories of cannibalism which he had heard from Natives on his arrival in the country, and, giving 1820 as a date, says that Moshesh put an end to these horrors. He acknowledges in a note that he has been accused of inventing these details for the sake “of giving a dramatic interest to our recital,”—and goes on to declare that when he was in the country, “there were thirty or forty villages the entire population of which is composed of those who were formerly cannibals and who make no secret of their past life.” Had I read all this without light from subsequent record, I should have felt that M. Cassalis was a writer far too simple and too honest to have invented anything for the sake of “dramatic interest:”—but that he was a man who might have been hoaxed even by thirty or forty villages. Having been taught to believe that Cannibalism had not prevailed in South Africa, I think I might have doubted the unaided testimony of the French missionary. But there is a testimony very much subsequent which I cannot doubt.
In November 1869 there appeared a paper in “Once a Week” called “Ethnological Curiosities from South Africa.” From whom it was supplied to that periodical neither do I know,—nor does the gentleman by whom the body of the paper was written. The assumed name of “Leyland” is there given to that gentleman, without any authority for the change, and it is told that he had contributed the narrative to the Ethnological Society and had called it a visit to the Cannibal Caves. This is true; but the name of the gentleman was Mr. Bowker who was the first Government Agent in Basutoland. He was not at all sorry to see his paper reappearing in so respectable a periodical, but has never known how it reached “Once a Week,” or why he was called Mr. Leyland. This is not of much general interest; but he goes on to describe how he, and a party with him, were taken by guides up the side of a mountain, and by a difficult pathway into a cave. The date is not given, but the visit occurred in 1868. The cavern is then described as being black with the smoke of fires, and the floor as being strewn with the bones of human beings,—chiefly those of women and children. “The marrow bones were split into small pieces, the rounded joints alone being left unbroken. Only a few of these bones were charred by fire, showing that the prevailing taste had been for boiled rather than for roast meat.” Again he says, “I saw while at the cavern unmistakeable evidence that the custom has not been altogether abandoned, for among the numerous bones were a few that appeared very recent. They were apparently those of a tall bony individual with a skull hard as bronze. In the joints of these bones the marrow and fatty substances were still evident, showing but too plainly that many months had not elapsed since he met his fate.” This was as late as 1868.
Again. “There are still a good many old Cannibals in existence. On the day that we visited the cavern I was introduced to one of them, who is now living not very far from his former dwelling-place. He is a man of about sixty, and, not to speak from prejudice, one of the most God-lost looking ruffians that I ever beheld in my life. In former days when he was a young man dwelling in the cavern, he captured during one of his hunting expeditions three young women. From these he selected the best-looking as a partner for life. The other two went to stock his larder.”
This comes from a gentleman who saw the ghastly remains, who well knows the people of whom he is speaking, and who from his official position has had better means of knowing than any other European. They come, too, from a gentleman who is still alive to answer for his story should a doubt be thrown upon it. His idea is that a certain number of the Basutos had been driven into the terrible custom by famine caused by continued wars, and had afterwards carried it on from addiction to the taste which had been thus generated. M. Cassalis, who was right enough in saying that the Basutos were Cannibals, was wrong only in supposing that his disciple Moshesh had been able to suppress the abomination. There is, however, reason to believe that it has now been suppressed.
The noble simplicity of individual missionaries as to the success of their own efforts is often charming and painful at the same time;—charming as shewing their complete enthusiasm, and painful when contrasted with the results. M. Cassalis tells us how Moshesh used to dine with him in the middle of the day, on Sunday, because, having come down from his mountain to morning service, he could not go up the hill for dinner, and so be back again in time for afternoon prayers. Moshesh used to have his dinner inside the missionary’s house, and the rest of the congregation from the mountain would remain outside, around, not wasting their time, but diligently learning to read. And yet I fear that there are not many Christians now on the mountain, which is still well known as Thaba Bosigo.
But Moshesh though he was not a Christian was a great Chief, and gradually under him the Basutos became a great tribe. Probably their success arose from the fact that the land on which they lived was fertile. The same cause has probably led to their subsequent misfortunes,—the fertility of the land having offered temptation to others. Their mountains and valleys became populated, and,—as the mountains and valleys of a still uncivilized race,—very rich. But there arose questions of boundaries, which so often became questions of robbery. I have already told how Maroco the Chief of the Baralongs at Thaba ’Ncho held that the land he occupied was his by right of purchase, and how Moshesh had declared that he had never sold an inch of his land. Moshesh was very fond of allegory in his arguments. The Baralongs were certainly living on land that had belonged to the Basutos; but Moshesh declared that, “he had lent them the cow to milk; they could use her; but he could not sell the cow.” For the full understanding of this it must be known that no Kafir, no Zulu, no Basuto can bear the idea of selling his cattle. And then the Boers of the Free State who had settled upon Basutoland, would have it that they owned the land. There came days of terrible fighting between the Basutos and the Boers,—and of renewed fighting between the Basutos and other tribes. One can imagine that they should again have been driven by famine to that cannibalism of which Mr. Bowker saw the recent marks. They were at a very low ebb at Thaba Bosigo, being at last almost eaten up by President Brand, and the Boers. Then they asked for British intervention, and at last, in 1868, Sir Philip Wodehouse issued a proclamation in which he declared them to be British subjects. A line of boundary was established between them and the Orange Republic, giving the Orange Republic the “Conquered Territory” which they still call by that objectionable name, but leaving to the Basutos the possession of a rich district which seems to be sufficient for their wants. The Orange Republic, or Free State, did not at all like what was done by the British. Their politicians still insisted that Great Britain was precluded by treaty from concerning itself with any native tribe north of the Orange River. It tried to make the most of its position,—naturally enough. Perhaps it did make the most of its position, for it now holds the peaceable possession of a great portion of the land of its late enemies, and no longer has a single hostile nation on its borders. We may say that the possibility of a hostile nation has passed away. Nothing can be more secure than the condition of the Orange Republic since Great Britain has secured her borders. There was a convention at Aliwal North, and the boundary line was permanently settled on March 12, 1869.
Since that time the Basutos have been a peculiarly flourishing people, living under the chieftainship of a junior Moshesh, but undoubted subjects of the Queen of England. Their territory is a part of the Cape Colony, which they help to support by the taxes they pay. Their hut tax, at the rate of 10s. a hut amounts to £4,000 a year. Why it should not come to more I do not understand, as, according to the usual calculation of four to a hut, there should be about 32,000 huts among them, which would give £16,000. They also contribute £2,000 a year in other taxes. In the year ended 30 June, 1876, they were governed, instructed, and generally provided for at the rate of £7,644 15s. 1d. As their revenue is hardly £5,000, this would shew a serious deficiency,—but they who do the finance work for Basutoland have a very large balance in hand, amounting, after the making up of all deficiencies at the date above named, to £22,577 4s. These figures are taken from the last published financial Report of the Cape of Good Hope. I need not tell an experienced reader that no book or document is produced so unintelligible to an uninitiated reader as an official financial report. Why should Basutoland with a revenue of £5,000 a year have a Treasury Balance of £22,577 4s.? Every clerk concerned in the getting up of that report no doubt knows all about it. It is not perhaps intended that any one else should understand it. I have said above that the Basutos are governed and instructed. Alas, no! Under the general head of expenditure, education is a conspicuous detail; but it is followed by no figures. It seems to be admitted that something should be expended for the teaching of the Basutos; but that the duty so acknowledged is not performed.