Among Boers and Basutos. By Mrs. Barkley. (Remington.)— In 1877,
Mrs. Barkley went out to join her husband, who had recently been appointed Resident Magistrate in Basutoland. She had not a few troubles before she reached her destination; ser- vants being, of course, one cause of vexation—indeed, Maria, the Basuto belle, must have been a " handful "—and when she got there, there was anything but peace. Her account of her life is full of entertainment and interest, and contains not a few good stories. The Basuto chief was very anxious to know how many cattle the Magistrate had given for his wife. " I gave eighteen- pence and a goat," was the answer. " Eighteenpence, perhaps, but not a goat," the chief replied. To give a goat, it seems, is a discredit. And this, says Mrs. Barkley, " was the nearest approach to a compliment that I ever succeeded in extracting from Masupha." In course of time, the Basuto war broke out, pro- voked by the Disarmament Act,—an Act which, according to our author, was universally condemned by all the whites who were acquainted with the country. Of the hardships and dangers which had to be endured, we have a lively narrative in these pages.
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