438 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



These immigrants left the neighbourhood of Hermon and wan- 

 dered north to the Phutiatsana, or Little Caledon, a tributary of the 

 Caledon Eiver, which falls into it below Maseru. Here they lived 

 at the mountain Qeme, and were known by the name of the Bush- 

 men of Mapeshuane, a name of manifest Sesuto origin/'' These 

 people eventually joined the second party of immigrants, and with 

 such as were left of them retired to Griqualand East, then called 

 No Man's Land. 



The second and much larger immigration occurred just after the 



* These Bushmen were not numerous. There were two small clans, one at 

 Qeme, the other at Qoaling, a mountain beyond the Phutiatsana, nearer Maseru. 

 Moshesh found them there when he settled at Thaba Bosiu. He tried to become 

 friendly with them, by giving them some old oxen to herd for him, as well as to 

 try to induce them to settle down, and give up their wandering and thievish manner 

 of life. However, they did not see matters in that light. They made up their 

 minds to possess the cattle which were lent them. Under cover of the darkness 

 they stole from mountain to mountain, the whole clan — men, women, and children 

 — driving the cattle before them. 



To follow them and recover the cattle was a difficult and dangerous operation, 

 for the Malutis were said by the Basuto to be infested by a peculiar kind of viper, 

 which could jump the height of a man from the ground. These snakes were very 

 poisonous, and were much dreaded by the Basuto. For the Bushmen they had no 

 terrors, as they possessed a medicine for snake-bites which the Basuto had not. It 

 was said by the old Basuto that when they travelled in the mountains they used to 

 carry a large flat stone upon their heads, in order that when the snakes sprang at 

 them they might bite the stone and not the head. 



The night when these Bushmen left their caves with the cattle they left behind 

 them two young girls. The name of one was Qeea, while the other was too young 

 to tell her name. These girls were seized by Moshesh as compensation for his 

 stolen cattle. Qeea was taken to Thaba Bosiu, while the other was given to 

 Mating, one of Moshesh's retainers, who gave her the name of Ma-Tseole. Qeea, 

 when grown up, had a son named Chitja, who is still alive though very old, and 

 resides — or, at least, was lately residing — in the Orange Eiver Colony near Hlotsce 

 Camp. 



The fugitives, after settling in the mountains, ate up all the cattle they had with 

 them, and became confirmed marauders, plundering the country around. They 

 eventually joined the clan under Swai at Sehonghong, and shared his tragic fate. 

 This will be narrated later. 



The following is a portion of one of their hunting songs : 



" Qilo ! qamole ! haoletse ! hetsema ! 

 Nqaqama ! qemeqoma ! qemase, qoobetse ! " 



The above is confirmed by the testimony of an old Bushman woman, who gave 

 the writer the following information: "I was born at Mequatling, in the Orange 

 Eiver Colony, in a cave, there. My father was the chief. When I was quite small 

 we were chased away from there by the Boers (about .1858). We came to Qeme, and 

 joined another clan there, but soon quarrelled with them. My father then went to 

 the mountain called Kolo, and lived there till he died. He married a Mosuto wife 

 and lived in a hut like other Basuto, and when I grew up I married a Mosuto 

 husband, and call myself a Mosuto." 



