The Nucleus Of The Whole Were Basuto,
Who Came With Sebituane From A Comparatively Cold And Hilly Region
In The South.
When he conquered various tribes of the Bechuanas,
as Bakwains, Bangwaketze, Bamangwato, Batauana, etc., he incorporated
the young of these tribes into his own.
Great mortality by fever
having taken place in the original stock, he wisely adopted
the same plan of absorption on a large scale with the Makalaka.
So we found him with even the sons of the chiefs of the Barotse
closely attached to his person; and they say to this day,
if any thing else but natural death had assailed their father,
every one of them would have laid down his life in his defense.
One reason for their strong affection was their emancipation
by the decree of Sebituane, "all are children of the chief."
The Makalaka cultivate the `Holcus sorghum', or dura, as the principal grain,
with maize, two kinds of beans, ground-nuts (`Arachis hypogoea'), pumpkins,
watermelons, and cucumbers. They depend for success entirely upon rain.
Those who live in the Barotse valley cultivate in addition the sugar-cane,
sweet potato, and manioc (`Jatropha manihot'). The climate there, however,
is warmer than at Linyanti, and the Makalaka increase
the fertility of their gardens by rude attempts at artificial irrigation.
The instrument of culture over all this region is a hoe,
the iron of which the Batoka and Banyeti obtain from the ore by smelting.
The amount of iron which they produce annually may be understood
when it is known that most of the hoes in use at Linyanti
are the tribute imposed on the smiths of those subject tribes.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 310 of 1070
Words from 88989 to 89264
of 306638
