Page:On the Central South African Tribes from the South Coast to the Zambesi.pdf/14

 The ploughs cannot be used except by the help of cattle, and therefore the men have now to do the heavy work. They plant not merely what they need for their households but in order to sell the produce, and I saw loads of Indian corn and wheat coming down to the Diamond Fields to be sold by the Baharutse. If we can turn the Betchuana tribes, of whom the greater part have been hitherto idle hunters, into peaceful agriculturists, I am sure that their example will spread among the other tribes, and it will be a great blessing for South Africa. I remember that during my last stay in the Diamond Fields I paid no less than £3 for a bag of Indian corn weighing 2 cwt, for my horses. In Port Elizabeth such a bag could be had for 5s, coming from America. But if al the tribes imitate the Baharutse and cultivate corn there will be no need to import corn at all into South Africa. I believe that they could even export some, and therefore I took the liberty to advise to make presents of ploughs to a few of the chiefs. I am sure if this were done agriculture would rapidly spread among the natives. We wish to live in peace with these native tribes, but in order to do that they must cease to be hunters and warriors; they must be peaceful.

I have said that of these different tribes the most southern are the Batlapins, Ba and Tlapi, id est, the men of the fish, the people who esteem a fish. When the tribes belonging to the Banthu family are close neighbours to the Hottentots, as such they are generally misled by the latter, and so we find that the Batlapins became very bad in their habits. They were so given to drunkenness that whole families died of hunger, because when a trader arrived there with brandy, they would give him the very last sheep they had got for it. When brandy and similar articles are prohibited, we may-hope that these Batlapins also will change for the better; the more so because these men are living near the Diamond Fields, where they can sell their grain, wood, cattle, reeds for thatching houses, etc., for very good prices. In this way they may greatly profit by the new laws.

To the north of the Batlapins we find the Barolongs, a tribe headed by a man named Montsie or Montsua. A long time ago he prohibited the sale of intoxicating liquors. These people are chiefly engaged in agriculture. In his kingdom I saw some Korannas staying with a chief of the name of Shebor, in the town of Konana. To the north of the Barolongs we find the Banguaketse, who were formerly hunters, but within the last two years they have taken a little more pains with agriculture. In that country we see two more tribes. To the east, near the ruins of the town of Kolobeng, described by Livingstone, we find the Manupi, and to the west the Baharutse, living in Moshaneng,