A Fragment of Basuto History, 1854 to 1871 (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3the vast mass of manuscript accumulated there. By far the greater quantity of Basuto records was in the High Commissioner's office, in which there is so little space that everything not frequently required is of necessity deposited in a store room. Add to this, that a generation ago very little importance was attached to documents relating to tribes in what was then the far interior, and the difficulty may be realized of even Government officers obtaining in 1881 information that could not be contradicted. Early in 1882 the Government resolved to have all the authentic records that could throw light upon the history of the Basuto tribe collected and published, and the duty ot carrying out this work was entrusted to me. It was not supposed at the time that the quantity was as great as it was subsequently ascertained to be. The Government of the Orange Free State was applied to, and with the utmost cordiality opened its archives for our use. A clerk was engaged for some months at Bloemfontein copying documents which had not previously been supplied to the High Commissioner. The missionaries in the Lesuto were not less ready to help. The early letter books of Moshesh were in their possession, and these were forwarded to me with many other papers of the utmost value for the object in view. The journals, reports, and maps of the first missionaries in the Lesuto were copied and supplied in the most obliging manner. When collected and arranged the papers consisted of: textit{(a) Correspondence between the Home and Colonial Governments, between the Colo- t, textit{': Section 4nial Governments and the Basuto Chiefs, between the Sovereignty and Free State Governments and the Basuto Chiefs, and between the High Commissioner and the Free State Government. textit{(b) Treaties between the Imperial a...