BASUTOLAND: ITS LEGENDS AND ITS CUSTOMS (1903)

Publisher's red cloth binding with gilt titles to spine.

viii + 174 pages.

'Mrs. Martin, who was the wife of a British official in Basutoland, went to live in the country in 1891, and soon became greatly interested in the natives, making a study of the language, visiting the different villages, and seeing as much as possible of the inner life of the people. The volume contains a short sketch of "Basuto History from the middle of the eighteenth century," when the country was ruled by a chief named Tokoana Makhautha (who was the grandfather of the celebrated chief Moshesh), down to the commencement of the twentieth century. There is an account of the marriage, birth, and death customs of the race, together with notes on the folklore, and on the character and intellect of the natives, their progress in education and civilisation, their methods of cultivation, &c. &c. A chapter is devoted to the relations which existed between the Boers and Basutos, and many details are afforded of the cruelties alleged to have been perpetrated by the former on the latter.' - Mendelssohn Vol.I, page 988

19 chapters, examples of headings or inclusions being: Outline of Basuto history; Climate; Native villages; Manner of cultivating the soil; Chief wars; Influence of the missionaries; General Gordon; Mode of government; Marriage customs; Death customs; Birth customs; News carriers; Boers and Basuto; How Khosi chose a wife; The famine.