With regard to the land, it is all practically in the possession of the Paramount Chief; but each householder has a right to as much as he can cultivate, and each chief owns large tracts of country, subject, of course, to the approval of the Paramount Chief, who has power to give or take away as he deems desirable, though certain of the principal chiefs, notably the sons of old Molapo, are too powerful for him to interfere with, unless supported by the Government.
Pasture is free to all, but certain tracts of pasturage are marked off by each chief as winter grazing, other as summer grazing, and cattle found feeding on one or the other out of season are impounded until the owner has been caught and reprimanded or fined, according to the enormity of his offence.
There are no rates nor land taxes, neither can the land be sold; but the people give a certain amount of help to their chief in the cultivation of his land, and the Paramount Chief has power to summon the whole population to his aid, did he desire to do so.
The chief conducts all his legal affairs at the entrance of the "Khotla," or court-house, a large, empty hut situated in the centre of the village, with a big open space in front, where the people assemble to hear and to give evidence. In the doorway, on a mat or kaross, the chief sits, with his head-man beside him, while on either hand are seated his councillors. No women are ever allowed to be present. Any one can have a hearing, no matter how trivial his evidence or grievance may be, and in any serious offence the longer the list of witnesses the better every one is pleased. It is no unusual thing for a trial to last several days, and the interest is as keen at the end as at the commencement.
When a chief dies he is succeeded by the eldest son of his principal wife. Should she have no sons, then the eldest son of the second wife succeeds, unless for some exceptional reason a special son is chosen in his father's lifetime and presented to the people as their future chief. A woman rarely succeeds to the chieftainship.
Most of the European houses in Basutoland are built of brick, and are by no means substantial; but there are some very good stone buildings, and the country is certainly not lacking in suitable rock from which to build. In some instances raw brick is used and plaistered inside and out and afterwards whitewashed. Our first home at Mafeteng was a little whitewashed thatched cottage, with mud floors and calico ceiling, the calico merely being caught up and tacked here and there to a beam in the roof. In the rainy season the water used to pour in at the back door (the house was built on the slope of a hill), and if not promptly directed into a more desirable course would speedily threaten to drive us out of house and home. As a rule the houses are small, except those of the Assistant Commissioners, and of course the Residency and Government Secretary's houses at Maseru. One or two of the more wealthy traders are now beginning to build better houses and shops; but when we first entered the country, the majority of the buildings were very poor specimens of the builder's art.
At Leribe there is a funny little fort built inside the prison enclosure at the time of the "Gun War," and which stands sturdily facing all weathers to the present day, though it is the roughest of workmanship.
Every spring the grass is burnt through the length and breath of Basutoland, which makes it very rank and coarse, and what is called "sour veldt." No wonder there are few wild flowers to be seen, save in the kloofs of the mountains. There are not many ferns, but the maidenhair grows in glorious profusion. The only wild fruits to be found are a small, very inferior blackberry, the wild raspberry, and the dwarf cape gooseberry.
The Basuto ponies are supposed to be descendants of some Shetland ponies which were imported into the Eastern Province of Cape Colony about the year 1840, and were soon after lost sight of in the Stormberg Mountains, and are supposed to have wandered into Basutoland. Certainly some of them are even now small enough to be "Shelties," and are not unlike them in shape.