BOERS AND BASUTO.
It is perhaps as well, before closing this account of Basutoland, to
mention the relation of Boers and Basuto towards each other, though the
subject is so distasteful that I may, perhaps, be pardoned for dwelling
very briefly upon it.
The Boers, from the earliest times, have been noted for their cruelty to
the coloured races, but this has been particularly so with the Basuto. A
glance at the Crime Records at each Station or Magistracy, or a short
perusal of the Blue Book, will verify this statement.
Frequent cases of theft by Basuto servants from their Dutch masters are
brought up for trial all over the country, and upon investigation the
greater number prove to have been committed by those who, despairing of
ever receiving the wages due to them for months (in some cases even
years) of labour, resort to this method of drawing attention to their
case.
As a rule the Mosuto helps himself to some of his master's flocks or
herds, and flies for protection to Basutoland. He does not look upon
this in the light of actual theft, and is quite willing to be brought up
by the Magistrate (or Assistant Commissioner as he is called) of his
own district, where he knows he may freely state his case with the hope
of receiving at least a fair hearing, and, if possible, in the future a
portion of the wages due to him, though he knows he will first of all
have to endure a certain amount of punishment for the theft he has
committed and for desertion, varying in severity according to the
enormity of the offence. But all cases cannot be tried in Basutoland. In
some instances the Dutchman insists upon the Mosuto being brought up for
trial before the Landrost of the nearest Free State town. Small hope is
there then that the Mosuto's version will even be listened to.
"That Kaffir dog must learn what it is to steal from a Dutchman." And
often poor wretch he does learn--from the "cat"--as well as having to
pay a fine or go to prison.
It is no uncommon thing for a Dutchman to hire a Mosuto to work for him
for two or three months, holding out as an inducement the promise of a
sheep, or a couple of goats, or even a cow, as payment for the work
done. When the time has expired, the Mosuto claims his wages, but is put
off with an excuse: he must work yet another month, and then he will get
something more; or six months longer, and then perhaps he will get a
horse. And the poor, ignorant creature remains, only to be again
disappointed.
If he is idle he is sjamboked, kicked, and generally ill-used, and in
some cases even thus treated simply as a matter of course, though there
is no cause for complaint.
The Basuto girls are also beaten both by master and mistress if they
fail to give satisfaction, and are generally treated with contempt, if
not actually ill-used. If I give one or two examples it will suffice.
They are by no means exceptions.
In the Leribe district there lives a man who in his boyhood was leader
of the team of oxen belonging to the Dutchman for whom he worked.
It is the duty of the leader, who is generally a boy of from ten to
sixteen years of age, to guide the oxen by means of a leather strap
attached to the horns of the two leading animals. This little fellow,
whom we will call Pete, was employed in this way. His master, as the
waggon moved slowly along, used to amuse himself by making a target of
little Pete, using the long waggon whip as his weapon, and literally
nipping out pieces of flesh from the child's naked body. If Pete ran on
ahead to get away from the cruel whip, he was shouted at and threatened
with dire punishment, until, terrified, he returned to his work.
At length, one day, a particularly sharp cut of the whip caught the
child in the eye dragging it completely out of its socket. No
compensation has ever been made to Pete.
Some few years ago a Mosuto girl, who was employed at a Dutch
farm-house in the Free State, incurred the anger of her employer, who
had her stripped naked and fastened across a bedstead, whereupon he beat
her until her back was all cut and bleeding, and a large piece of flesh
had been nipped completely out of her thigh. When the pain became so
great that for a moment she fainted, she was released, kicked and sworn
at, and told to return to her work. Needless to say, she did not do so,
but ran away to her home in Basutoland, and returned to her employer no
more.
Not so long ago a Dutch farmer was riding round his farm and had
occasion to find fault with a native. The man answered him very
impertinently, whereupon he rode back to his house, loaded his gun and
returned to where the now terrified native was working. With many curses
he called the man, telling him he intended to kill him. The poor wretch
implored to be spared, but in vain. He was shot, and when the case was
tried in one of the Free State towns, the farmer was fined £10!! That
night he gave a champagne supper to his friends.
Another similar case was that of a farmer whose habits were not too
temperate. One evening he was considerably annoyed by the noise his farm
hands were making in their huts, some little distance from the house.
The men were having a small feast, and probably had been drinking a
considerable quantity of Kaffir beer, their master had also been
drinking--_not_ Kaffir beer. He walked down to the hut and told them to
be quiet. They obeyed only for a few moments. Then the singing and noise
began worse than before. Taking his loaded gun with him, the farmer
returned to the hut, called out one of the men and shot him dead on the
spot. For this he was fined somewhere about £100 by the Free State
Government. He was very wealthy. Both these men I have met, also their
wives.
Yet one more case. Two servant girls, who for some offence were tied up
to the wheels of the waggon by their master and flogged, were taken
away, after his fury had exhausted itself upon them--mutilated corpses.
Of course there are, here and there, amongst the Dutch, men and women
who are both kind and generous to their native servants, but they are
the exception, not the rule.
The ordinary Boer looks upon a native as no better than a dog, without
rights, without a soul, a creature to be made use of, or to turn adrift,
or ill-use, according to the mood of his master.
I do not wish to give the idea that I consider the native races should
be placed on a level with the white races. Far from it. They need to be
treated much as one would treat an unruly child, with _great_ firmness,
and to be taught to regard the white man as their _master_, as a being
infinitely their superior. But a master can be both kind and just, and
only punish where punishment is needed. To go from one extreme to the
other is _most_ undesirable, and can be productive only of harm, and
those who try to instil ideas of equality into the semi-savage brain are
increasing the trouble which some future generation will almost
inevitably have to face.
What is sadly needed is that Englishmen and women (men especially)
should set the natives in every part of South Africa an example of
uprightness, morality, and perseverance, should gain and retain the
respect and devotion of the native tribes, and should judiciously train
them to become useful members of our Empire.
The missionaries, undoubtedly, do an enormous amount of good, but many
of them are as unwise in their treatment of the Basuto as the Boers,
though they err on the side of kindness. They fail to realize that
civilisation _must_ come gradually to be effective; that to try to run
and jump before you can walk is foolish, and may often be harmful, and
by treating a raw native as an equal, they are very possibly laying the
foundation stone for native disturbances in the future. Directly a
native begins to look upon himself as an educated being, equal to the
white man, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred he at once loses all
respect for the European, whom he treats in an off-hand, condescending
manner, intensely offensive to any one who has realized the wide gulf
which separates the two races.
So many people fail to understand that a South African native, even the
best, can not be placed in the same category as an Indian. I firmly
believe that kindness will repay us infinitely better than cruelty,
_but_ it must be kindness mixed with _great_ firmness, and there should
be _no_ lowering of the master to the level of the native. If only a
better, a higher standard of "morals and manners" could be instilled
into the European races of South Africa, there would be no cause for
anxiety as to the future development of the native races.