Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 107, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1899 — Nation of Kings [ARTICLE]

Nation of Kings

There now remains only one people and one little valley south of the equator whose sovereignty has not been claimed by some European power. It is the valley of B&rotse, fifty or sixty miles wide, north of Lialun, in South Africa. And the only reason why the Marotse, who inhabit it, have preserved their independence is that England and Portugal both claim it, and therefore the work of “civilization” is at a stand still It may not be so easy to conquer the Marotse when the time comes, for they are a tall, well-set-up race, very black in skin. In manners they are very courteous and in bearing dignified. Every full-blooded Marotse Is by birthright a king, and takes his place in the aristocracy of the empire. In fact, as every one is king, there is no head ruler. The bare fact that he is a Marotse insures the respect of the subservient tribes, and as he grows to manhood a sense of superiority usually Implants in the native the dignity of self-respect All the labor is done by slaves who have been captured from neighboring tribes.