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Niram or Chirong, when tea and salt are exchanged by the Tibetans for rice and other petty Nepaulese productions.

About 17 years ago the Manchu Resident in Tibet reported the death of the King of Nepaul, and announced at the same time that the "Acting King" was called P'i-jê-t'i-jê Pi Pi-ko-r-ma Shêng-sie Tsêng-ko Pa-ha-tu-jê Saha. By the light of what precedes we may take it as certain that the three last words mean Jung Bahādur Sāh. The Encyclopædia Britannica says that in 1881 Prithwi Vir Vikrama Sah succeeded, which would account for the three first Chinese combinations; but whether Prithwi and Jung are one and the same person, or two persons, it is for persons versed in Indian affairs to say.

In 1886 envoys were again sent to Peking. The chief Ko-k'i was called Jê-la Pi-ko-r-ma Jê-na, which sounds like Raj Vikrama Rana; the second in rank was a Sa-r-ta-r (? Sirdar) named Ti-jê-k'ê-man-la (? Tirak Manla); and there were eight Su-pi-ta-jê (? Subadars), whose fearful names will be supplied in the original Chinese to anyone who can "show cause" why he should know them. The movements of these envoys can be steadily traced until, in 1891, they are finally landed back safe in Nepaul. Another memorial from the King alludes to his chief Ko-k'i, by name Pi-jê Shêng-sie-jê Tsêng-ko Jê-na Pahatujê, who had received from the Emperor the title of Kwokan Wang or “Very Brave Prince." This accords with Dr. Wright's Nepaul," which says that in 1873 Sir Jung Bahadur was made Thong-lin-pim-ma Ko-kang-vang-syan which, when properly spelt, means "general leader of the army, truly brave prince, and premier.”*

In conclusion, I may say that if anyone possesses a good map of Nepaul, and will supply me with a copy of it, and also as many authentic names of places and people as possible, I shall perhaps be able to furnish quite a respectable history of the Nepaul wars from purely Chinese

sources.

*See "Notes and Correspondence," p. 184.

BASUTOLAND.

BY MALCOLM SETON, B. A.

THE history of South Africa during the last fifty years seems to the casual observer to be made up of a series of unrelated incidents. This impression is probably due to the fact that African affairs only attract attention in England when they reach an acute stage, or, if we look at the matter in another way, when they force themselves upon the readers of the daily papers. It is, of course, not to be expected that the people of the British Isles, with whom, in times of disturbance, rests the ultimate decision of Imperial questions, will ever be well-informed upon the affairs of the British dominions, but it is at least possible that Englishmen may be enabled to understand something of the essential factors in colonial history. We have got past the stage when the authorities at home could gravely instruct the chaplain in charge of the troops at Grahamstown to ride over every Sunday and conduct an afternoon service at Durban (some five hundred miles away), but the atmosphere of misty enthusiasm through which Englishmen are at present learning to look at colonial development is almost as destructive to clear vision as was the blank ignorance of the forties.

It is therefore worth while to go into some of the details of South African history with what may at first appear disproportionate minuteness. For anyone who wishes to understand South Africa must learn that the necessary preliminary is a comprehension of the mutual relations of the three races established in the country-the British, the Dutch, and the Bantu or "Kaffirs." Now while the affairs of Basutoland are, perhaps, not in themselves of sufficient importance to claim any discussion except in what Stevenson happily described (when speaking of the contact of two white nations with one coloured race in another part of the

world) as "a footnote to history," it may be claimed that they afford some valuable illustrations of the processes which have been at work in South Africa their typical interest, in fact, is greater than their individual importance. And there is this further reason for devoting a little attention to Basuto affairs, that during the next thirty years Basutoland will, in all probability, present the most serious problems with which the High Commissioners of South Africa will be called upon to deal, and it is therefore just as well that people in England should not be compelled (as is usually the case when African troubles arise) to have hasty recourse to an atlas for the purpose of acquiring their first acquaintance with the theatre of events.

The Basutos, then, are a section of the great Bantu race, akin to the Bechuana branch of it rather than to the Zulus. The question of Bantu origins is, at present, one of hopeless difficulty; it must here be sufficient to say that the Basutos, during the early part of the century, were a tribe (using the word loosely) settled to the west of the Drakensberg range, spreading over a great part of what is now the Orange Free State. Under the attacks of turbulent neighbours, they gradually formed themselves into what may fairly be called a nation, and thus they present the spectacle, unique in South Africa, of a nation created by external pressure. When the Zulus, under Chaka, perfected their military organization, and "ate up" their weaker neighbours, they destroyed the tribal organization of half the Kaffir races, but they unwittingly created Basutoland. For, to the west of the Drakensberg, one petty chieftain was able to realize that, if he could concentrate round his rock-fortress of Thaba Bosigo the remnants of the broken tribes, he might yet build up a nation. When the history of the Bantus comes to be written, Moshesh must figure in it as the only Kaffir diplomatist. Conquerors there have been many Chaka, Dingaan, Moselikatse-among the Bantus, reformers one at least, Khama, Chief of the Bamangwato, but Moshesh the

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Basuto had something of the genius of Themistocles—he could make a small state into a great one. The Zulu raids depopulated the greater part of what is now Natal, and filled the Drakensberg with miserable fugitives, who, in their distress, fell back to the practice of cannibalism.* Moshesh gradually rallied round him many of these demoralized Kaffirs: he succeeded in suppressing cannibalism (which is revolting to the genuine Bantu), he welcomed a few missionaries, for, though he never appears to have been really converted to Christianity, he recognised the benefits which the reflection of civilized ethics might give to his subjects, and he made genuine efforts to check the " witch-doctoring" that represents the one effectual belieft of the savage Bantus. When Moselikatse broke away from the main body of Zulus, a party of his Matabele attacked Thaba Bossigo without success : Moshesh, having repulsed their assault, sent them a present of cattle for their homeward journey, and, henceforth, was practically unmolested by Matabele raids. But even more serious troubles came upon the Basutos when the "Great Trek" brought many families of Boers North of the Orange River. The British Government was quite at a loss for a policy for the first twenty years of the present reign while unwilling to extend British sovereignty beyond the Orange River, they were unable to see British subjects cast off their allegiance and engage in native wars

* This outbreak of cannibalism was due to very exceptional distress, but continued to exist for a time as a morbid custom. (See Mr. Scully's "Kaffir Stories," a book invaluable to any student of native life; and "Les Bassoutos," par E. Casalis, ancien missionaire; Paris, 1859.)

† Mr. Andrew Lang, in his "Making of Religion," has shown that the Zulus, at any rate, possessed some primitive theological theories. But, for all practical purposes, the only supernatural belief that influences the Kaffir races is the conviction that evil powers can be invoked by witchcraft.

The Matabele were an offshoot from the Zulus, who fled westward under Moselikatse, and for some years ravaged the territories now comprised in the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. They were gradually driven north by the Boers, and finally fell upon and reduced the Makalaka and Mashona in what is now called "Southern Rhodesia."

on their own account. Accordingly they devised the unfortunate plan of "buffer states ": Cape Colony was to be bounded on the North by a series of independent native chiefs, while beyond the domains of Adam Kok, Waterboer, and Moshesh, the Boers were to be allowed nominally a free hand, but to be debarred from obtaining ammunition. In 1843 Sir George Napier concluded a treaty with Moshesh by which that chief was recognised as ruler of Basutoland and a great part of what is now the Orange Free State. But the system was hopeless from the first: the emigrant colonists round Bloemfontein refused naturally to consider themselves the subjects of a Kaffir chief, and such disturbances ensued that in 1848 Sir Harry Smith annexed the "Orange River Sovereignty" in the name of the Crown.

Moshesh was compelled to recognise the extension of British sovereignty, but it was not to be expected that a powerful native chief would acquiesce quietly in the loss of his independence. The annexation had come too late : many of the Boers resented the measure, and the Basuto chief was able to some extent to make use of the discord among his European neighbours. In 1851 the Basutos cut up a small party of British troops under Major Warden, and next year they fought what was practically a drawn battle against a much stronger expedition led by Sir George Cathcart. Moshesh, however, was aware that he could not stand against the British forces, and was wise enough to send an offer of submission to the British commander, which was accepted. Some cattle were paid over as a fine, the British evacuated Basutoland, and the prestige of Moshesh was exalted among the other native chiefs. In 1854 a change of policy was decided in Downing Street: the

Orange River sovereignty was abandoned, the Orange Free State was created by the Convention of Bloemfontein, and henceforth the Basutos were face to face with an independent Dutch Republic. The natural results followed the Basutos, now grown into a warlike nation, raided over their western border, and, in spite of the

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