orthern
kinsfolk. They were, at the time of my visit, far from approving the
policy of mere resistance to reform which President Kruger has taken up;
and seemed quite indisposed to support the Transvaal if it should take
any course at variance with its treaty engagements.[66] To this topic I
may have occasion presently to return. Meanwhile I pass on to describe
the native State which lies nearest to the Free State, which has been
most closely connected with its fortunes, and which in one respect
furnishes a parallel to it, having been of late years the most quiet and
contented among native communities.

[Footnote 64: Mr. Brand was chosen President when practising law in Cape
Colony; and afterwards accepted, with the full assent of his citizens, a
British order of knighthood.]

[Footnote 65: Revising this book in October, 1899, I leave the above
passage as it was written in 1897, grieving to think that it describes
what has now become a past, and that the future is likely to have far
other things in store.]

[Footnote 66: I leave this as written in 1897. The invasion of the
Transvaal in December, 1895, led to the conclusion of an alliance
between the Free State and that Republic, whereby each bound itself to
defend the other if attacked. The Free State has accordingly now
(October, 1899), when hostilities have broken out between Britain and
the Transvaal, thrown in its lot with its sister Republic. This is what
every one who knew its history and the character of its people must have
expected.]

CHAPTER XX

BASUTOLAND

Basutoland is a comparatively small territory (10,300 square miles)
somewhat larger than Wales or Massachusetts. It is nearly all
mountainous, and contains the highest summits in South Africa, some of
them reaching 11,000 feet. Few European travellers visit it, for it lies
quite away from the main routes; it has no commercial importance, and
its white population is extremely small, the land being reserved for the
natives alone. We were attracted to it by what we had heard of the
scenery; but found when we came to traverse it, that the social
conditions were no less interesting than the landscapes.

The easiest approach is from Bloemfontein. Starting from that pleasant
little town one bright November morning on the top of the Ladybrand
coach, we drove over wide and nearly level stretches of pasture-land,
which now, after the first rains, were vividly green, and beginning to
be dotted with f