stick to a twig or oid hatchet. Among these figure the fantastic Machopis,
dancing to the music of native imbilas, or Basutos blowing their little
reed or bone whistles and swaying about with strange contortions,
accompanied by monotonous tapping on a crude drum made by stretching a
raw ox-hide over the end of a barrel. The 'Mshangaans chant while
dancing, but the Basutos are not gifted with musical voices and have no
evident ear for music, although they are so fond of their own harsh
and discordant blowing that they will pipe away on their hollow bones
and dance for hours at a time on Sunday to their own piping.
Among the other native tribes there are many boys with fine voices, sweet toned or robustly sonorous, ranging
from
the highest tenor or falsetto to the deepest bass ; and some are
readily trained to part singing. In De Beers and other of the larger
compounds there are native choral societies under the charge of white
instructors. The most popular songs are the familiar American negro
minstrel and concert hall melodies. These are freshly ludicrous to one
who pictures the black singers "climbing the golden ladder" and
"wearing the golden slipper" on their big flat feet. The climax is
reached when the high
