River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-11-18
THE BASUTO WAR.
The s.and and the People Now in
Arms Against t.reat Britain.

Basutoland may be described as the
Wales of South Africa. 1t is a little
province fitted in at the northeast cor
ner of Cape Colony, between the
| Orange Free State. the Cape Colony
and Natal il is about $50 miles long
by 80 broad, its length running parallel
speaking, nearly parallel with the coast
line Some of its table lands are near
ly 5000 feet above the sea, while It's
loftiest mountain is credited with q
height of 10000 feet. The cold
throughout the whole of Basutoland is
very severe in the months of June
July, August and even September.
One of the wings ofthe Cape Mounted
Rifles marching up from Kokstad, in
Griqualand East, to Mascru, the CHIEF
station in Basutoland, was delayed
some days by heavy fall of snow,
which blocked the passes and render
ed marching slow and tedious.
Though Basutoland may be said to be
$50 miles by 80 in size, the eastern side
of its breadth is scarcely inhabited on
account of the extreme cold and of the
inaccessible character of the noun
tains. The most thickly populated dis
tricts of the little country extend nearly
along its whole length, but are of a
breadth of about thirty miles only-the
thirty miles to the northwest and ly-
| ing next to the Orange Free State. 1t
! is from the Free State, then that Basu-
| tOland can be most easily entered, and
its chief stations, which lie within a
| few hours of the Free State border,
most safely and easily reached. There
are other routes from the south, but
they present great difficulties to the
march of troops, and are open to grave
objections from Il military point of
view.
The Basutos are mostly remnants of
tribes who were driven before the KAT
frs. Early in the century they took
refuge in the mountain Businesses of
| BasutOland to escape the pitiless sol
diery of the Zulu conqueror, Chaka. 1t
was on the steep and rocky hill of Tha-
ba Bosigo that Moshesh, the first para
mount chief of the Basutos, rallied the
starved and desperate men of the diff
ferent clans of his race, made Il success
full stand against the Zulus, and laid the
foundation Of the Basuto nation. To
speak of the Basutos as equal or nearly
equal to the Zulus in fighting qualities
(as is sometimes done) is a mistake.
The Basutos lack the discipline, the
reckless bravery and the taste for fight
ing possessed by the Zulu soldiers. The
Basutos have no military organization,
merely turning out or being turned out
by their chiefs for fighting by tribes or
al m
Zulus were before the Zulu army was
broken up, but are merely hardy noun
taineers Unlike the Zulus, the Basu-
t0s fight, Us rule, mounted, possessing
hardy and active ponies, which make
light the difficulties of the mountain
tracks of their country. Almost all the
BasutOs have taken to clothing, partly
from their progress in civilization, part
ly from the severe climate of their
land. The military trait to be remark
ed in the Basutos is their aptitude for
fortifying or e1aschonsjng themselves,
and the intelligence with which they
strengthen any position they may de
sire to hold. Indeed, the colonists'
chief difficulties will probably COM
mence when the Basutos, worsted in
the open, betake themselves to their
mountain strongholds. Thaba Bosigo,
the stronghold now held by the Chief
Masupha, is good example of q Basu-
to position. 1t is an isolated hill about
400 feet high, with a flat or table top,
and with sides scraped away by natural
causes. The table is only accessible by
three or four paths. Some of these
paths are said to have been rendered
inaccessible, others to be barred by
lines of schanzes, or stone barbados,
loopholed and possessing thanking de
Tense On the mountain are good pas
lures to Craze the cattle, plenty ofwater
and stores Of grain and ammunition.