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correlated and, if possible, published at an early date, with due acknow- 
ledgments. 
I am convinced that what native history is still to be gathered must be 
gathered at once, from the old men with memory of it. Time and again 
have I been told, during the last few months, that old people have just 
died who could have answered my question (the younger generation are 
woefully uninterested). Could not those in touch with such make the future 
their debtor by an effort to record their recollections within the next few 
months ? Even where such record were not available for co-operative 
history, as I suggest, I should be grateful to have the names and whereabouts 
of such sources of information, in case some doubtful point within their 
memory needed to be cleared up. Suggested names of officials, missionaries, 
or settlers who have studied the tribes, or have long experience of them, 
would also be gratefully received. 
One thing I especially ask : that those who co-operate in this urgent 
work of salvaging the last remnants of these recollections would take care 
to give the regiment (mophato) names contemporary with each incident 
as well as the date A.D. where that can be fixed. 
In conclusion, I might mention that the significance of the regiment name 
itself often throws light on the history, as will be seen in two examples 
given above (v. index under -tlhaselwa and -fitlha-Kgosi), and also on the 
feeling of the tribe at the time. The spelling even reflects the variant pro- 
nunciation, as (seTlhaping) hachane for fatshwane and (seTlohwa) hiri for firi. 
N.B. — The following meteorological dates have been kindly checked 
bv H.M. Astronomer at the Cape, and may be useful in fixing others : — ■ 
Comets in 1811-2, Nov. '43, '58-9, '82 ; meteors, Nov. 27, 1885 ; total 
solar eclipses, Nov. 19, 1835, and April 16, 1874. 
I regret that data I have been looking for concerning the ancient tribe 
of the ba-Hurutse have not yet arrived : I trust workers in that and other 
spheres will kindly help me with information and correction. I beg to 
thank the reigning chiefs Kgama, Lencwe, Sebele, Lotlamoreng, Seboko, 
Gaborone, and their counsellors, the chieftainess Moletshi, the chief Segale 
and others of his family, especially the teachers Amos and Seth Pilane, 
and masters and scholars at Pietersburg Training College, Tyger Kloof, 
etc., for valuable help in preparing this paper : also the Government 
officials of the Native Affairs Department and of Bechuanaland, Basutoland, 
and the Transvaal, for constant kindness and help in every wa) . 
Note to Index of Eegiment Names. 
N.B. — In all but the two or three cases where I have given the special 
prefix, the prefix ma is to be understood before the form given in the index 
as collective name of the regiment : the individual member of it uses the 
singular prefix le- ; hence the formula for asking one's regiment, " 0 le-ng ? " 
i.e. " You are ?e-what ? " To find the mophato preceding or following, 
