Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/221

BA8UT0LAND. 109 bincd with the vulour displayed on many a hard -fought battlefield, the Ba«utoH have succeeded to a large extent in safeguarding their political autonomy under the supreme British authority. Formerly they contracted marriages within cIoho degrees of kindreil, a practice which seemed an abomination to the Kafirs of the seaboard, who are not only exogamous, but even abstain from taking wi^^es in foreign families bearing the same name as their own. The Busutos possess at present far more numerous herds than they did fifty years ago, when rujmcious beasts still infested the neighbourhood of every camping- ground. They still regard the care of homed cattle and of their new acquisition, the horse, as the occupation most worthy of freemen. 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 ; nor do they now confine their attention, as formerly, to the cultivation of sorgho, their favourite cereal. They also raise crops of several other varieties, as well as of most European fruits, the superfluous produce of their farms now contributing towards the regular support of the inha- bitants of Cape Colony. Every village is surrounded by orchards, and such is the natural fertility of the well-watered soil that this region has become one of the granaries of South Africa. The land itself is still held in common by the whole community, so that its cultivation has not yet divided the nation into a privileged wealthy and indigent proletariate class. The actual tiller alone has any right to the results of his labour, and should he cease to cultivate his allotment and remove elsewhere, ho is compelled to restore it to the tribal chief, by whom it is assigned in the name of the commune to another holder. In favourable years the value of the agricultural produce exported to Cape Colony and the Diamond Fields has exceeded £200,000. Like the natives of Savoy and Auvergne, the Basutos also send every year to the surrounding regions a number of young emigrants who, sooner or later, return with a modest fortune to the paternal home. They have seldom any difficulty in finding employment, such is their long-standing reputation for honesty and perseverance. But when the wages agreed upon are withheld, they are apt to indemnify themselves by carrying off the cattle of their employers. Hence arise frequent difticulties with the Orange Free State, where most of the Basuto emigrants seek work. Some good roads already penetrate far into the upland valleys ; the slopes of the mountains are Ix^ing yearly brought more and more under cultivation, and thus is being gradually created a public fund for keeping the highways in repair and supporting the local schools. There are numerous deposits of platinum in the surrounding highlands ; but although the country abounds in mineral resources, scarcely any of the mines have yet been worked. Thuba BuHHigo {T/uiba Bomu), that is, the " Mountain of Night," the chief