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 202 THE BRITISH EMPIRE J — BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE

Native tax yielded 107,291?. in 1919-20, and customs, 63.281Z. Balance of assets over liabilities, March 31, 1920, 129,000Z.

There are no navigable waterways, the rivers being low in winter and generally flooded in summer. The roads in the country are now in fair condition for any kind of transport.

There are telegraph offices at the various magistracies in connection with the systems of the Cape Province and Orange Free State.

A railway built by the C.S.A.R., 16 miles, connects Maseru with the Bloemfontein-lN'atal line at Marseilles Station.

Resident Commissioner. — Lieut. -Col. E. C. F. Garraway, C.M.G.

References.

Colonial Report. Annual. London.

Despatches (1869-70), Correspondence, Further Conespondence, and other Papers respecting Basutoland (1880-1887). London.

Barkly (Mrs.), Among Boers and Basutos. 4th ed. London, 1900. Bryce (J.), Impressions of South Africa. 3rd Edition. London, 1899. EUenberger (Rev. D. F.), History of the Basuto. London, 1912. Johnston (Sir Harry), The Colonisation of Africa. Cambridge, 1899. Lagden (Sir G.), The Basutos. 2 vols. London, 1909. Martin (Minnie), Basutoland : Its Legends and Customs. London, 1903. Norris- Newman (C. L.), The Basutos and their Country. London, 1882. Widdieombe'J.), Fourteen Tears in Basutoland. London, 1892.

BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE.

The Bechuanaland Protectorate comprises the territory lying between the Molopo River on the south and the Zambezi on the north, and extending from the Transvaal Province and Matabeleland on the east to South- West Africa. Area is about 275,000 square miles ; population, according to the census taken on the 7th May, 1911, 125,350, of whom 1,692 were Europeans. The most important tribes are the Bamangwato (35,000), under the chief Khama, whose capital is Serowe (population 17,000) 40 miles west of the railway line at Palapye Road ; the Bakhatla (11,000) under Lenchwe : the Bakwena (13,000) under Sebele II. ; the Bangwaketse (18,000) under Tshosa, acting paramount chief during minority of Bathoefi, a boy of 12 years of age, the eldest son of the late chief Gaseitsiwe ; the Batawana under Mathibe ; and the Bamalete (4,500) under Seboko Mokgosi, who assumed the Chieftainship on July 9, 1917. In 1885, the territory was declared to be within the British sphere ; in 1889 it was included in t lie sphere of the British South Africa Company, but was never administered by the company ; in 1890 a Resident Commissioner was appointed, and in 1895, on the annexation of the Crown Colony of British Bechuanaland to the Cape of Good Hope, new arrangements were made for the administration of the Protectorate, and special agreements were made in view of the exten- sion of the railway northwards from Mafeking. Each of the chiefs rules his own people as formerly, under the protection of the King, who is repre- sented by a Resident Commissioner, acting under the High Commissioner. The headquarters of the Administration are in Mafeking, in the Cape Pro- vince, where there is a reserve for Imperial purposes, with ample buildingB, There are assistant commissioners at Gaberones in the southern, and Francistown in the northern portion of the Protectorate. There is a tax of 11. on each hut and 3."!. for a Native Fund established by virtue of Pro- clamation No. 47 of 1919, for education, &c. Licences for the sale of spirits are granted only at certain railway stations.

Cattle-rearing, and agriculture to a limited extent (production of maize and Kaffir corn), aro tho chief industries, but the country is more a pastoral than an agricultural one, crops depending entirely upon the rainfall. Cattle