196 
EXTENSIVE CULTIVATION OF LAND. 
Chap. X. 
counterpart of wMch may be seen depicted on the Egyptian 
monuments. Sekeletu added to tins good supply of meal ten or 
twelve jars of honey, each of which contained about two gallons. 
Liberal supplies of ground-nuts {AracMs hypogma) were also fiu’- 
nished every time the tributary tribes brought their dues to 
Linyanti, and an ox was given for slaughter every week or two. 
Sekeletu also appropriated two cows to be milked for us every 
morning and evening. This was in accordance with the acknow¬ 
ledged ride tlxroughout this country, that the chief should feed 
all strangers who come on any special business to him, and take 
up their abode in his kotla. A present is usually given in return 
for the hospitality, but, except in cases where tlieir aboriginal 
customs have been modified, nothing would be asked. Europeans 
spoil the feeling that hospitality is the sacred duty of the chiefs, 
by what in other circumstances is laudable conduct. No sooner 
do they arrive than they offer to purchase food, and, instead of 
waiting till a meal is prepared for them in the evening, cook for 
themselves, and then often decline even to partake of that Avhich 
has been made ready for their use. A present is also given, 
and before long the natives come to expect a gift without having 
offered any equivalent. 
Strangers frequently have acquaintances among the under¬ 
chiefs, to whose establishments they ton aside, and are treated 
on the same principle that others are when they are the guests 
of the cliief. So generally is the duty admitted, that one of the 
most cogent arguments for polygamy is, that a respectable man 
with only one wife could not entertain strangers as he ought. 
This reason has especial weight where the women are the chief 
cultivators of the soil, and have the control over the corn, as at 
Kolobeng. The poor, however, who have no friends, often suffer 
much hunger, and the very kind attention Sebituane lavished on all 
such, was one of the reasons of liis great popularity in the country. 
The Makololo cultivate a large extent of land around their 
villages. Those of them who are real Basutos still retain the 
habits of that tribe, and may be seen going out with theu wives 
with their hoes in hand; a state of things never witnessed at 
Kolobeng, or among any other Bechuana or Caffre tribe. The 
great chief Moshesh affords an example to his people annually, 
by not only taking the hoe in hand, but working hard with it on 
certain public occasions. His Basutos are of tlio same family 
