Basuto Land. By Minnie Martin. (Nichols and Co. 3s. 6d.
net.)— Mrs. Martin is the wife of an official in Basutoland, and writes from the experience of ten years. Basuto jealousy on the subject of their customs is well known; the casual traveller does not get much chance of learning about them, a fact which gives more value to this book. Some of the things mentioned are strange; that, for instance, of the Chapong, a mysterious smoke to be seen sometimes at Butha-Buthe—Mrs. Martin has seen it herself—and quite inexplicable. Many of the customs seem to have their origin in the fear of spirits ; as the neglect of a child born shortly after the death of another. The neglect is ceremonial rather than real—the child does not actually suffer, we are told—but it is due to the dread of vengeance from the dead, who may feel that he is not missed. Mrs. Martin illustrates her narrative with folk-lore. She has something to say, too, about the history of the country. It is not a very pleasing matter to read about,—the old tale of vacillation and neglect, and sometimes the Mother- country "paying the piper" while the Colony dances. Sir Gordon Sprigg does not appear to advantage. By an untimely insistence on disarmament he precipitated a war of which we had to bear the damage. Then, also, we have the usual narratives of the Boer treatment of the natives. One Boer is said to have flogged two Basuto servant-girls to death ; another shot a labourer in cold blood, going home to fetch his gun; he was fined £10 for it. "The ordinary Boer looks upon a native as no better than a dog, without rights, without a soul." Mrs. Martin does
not date her preface, and seems, from speaking of the " Free State," to have written before the war.
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