Page:South Africa (1878 Volume 2).djvu/332

 the same time;—charming as shewing their complete enthusiasm, and painful when contrasted with the results. M. Cassalis tells us how Moshesh used to dine with him in the middle of the day, on Sunday, because, having come down from his mountain to morning service, he could not go up the hill for dinner, and so be back again in time for afternoon prayers. Moshesh used to have his dinner inside the missionary's house, and the rest of the congregation from the mountain would remain outside, around, not wasting their time, but diligently learning to read. And yet I fear that there are not many Christians now on the mountain, which is still well known as Thaba Bosigo.

But Moshesh though he was not a Christian was a great Chief, and gradually under him the Basutos became a great tribe. Probably their success arose from the fact that the land on which they lived was fertile. The same cause has probably led to their subsequent misfortunes,—the fertility of the land having offered temptation to others. Their mountains and valleys became populated, and,—as the mountains and valleys of a still uncivilized race,—very rich. But there arose questions of boundaries, which so often became questions of robbery. I have already told how Maroco the Chief of the Baralongs at Thaba 'Ncho held that the land he occupied was his by right of purchase, and how Moshesh had declared that he had never sold an inch of his land. Moshesh was very fond of allegory in his arguments. The Baralongs were certainly living on land that had belonged to the Basutos; but Moshesh declared that, "he had lent them the cow to milk; they could use her; but he could not sell