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32 In the French original ‘socialement mort’ and ‘mort en sursis’. Meillassoux, Anthropologie de L'Esclavage, 106–7.

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40 Thompson, Survival, 98.

41 Ibid. 193.

42 Sanders, Moshoeshoe, 55–6.

43 E. Bradlow, ‘Historical introduction’, in W. Somerville, William Somerville's Narrative of His Journeys to the Eastern Cape Frontier and to Lattakoe, 1799–1802, Cape Town, 1979, 13–22.

44 J. Barrow, A Voyage to Cochinchina, in the Years 1792 and 1793: Containing a General View of the Valuable Productions and the Political Importance of This Flourishing Kingdom, and Also of Such European Settlements as Were Visited on the Voyage…, to Which is Annexed an Account of a Journey Made in the Years 1801 and 1802, to the Residence of the Chief of the Booshuana Nation (London, 1806).

45 F. R. Bradlow, ‘Bibliographical introduction’, in Somerville, Narrative, 3–12.

46 Barrow, A Voyage, 405–6.

47 Somerville, Narrative, Appendix 1, Letter written by Petrus Borchardus Borcherds to his father Rev. Meent Borcherds [nd], 230.

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53 Burchell, Travels, ii, 535–6.

54 Ibid. 347–8, see also 375–6; Campbell, Travels: Second Journey, ii, 193, 214.

55 E. Eldredge, ‘Slave raiding across the Cape frontier’, in Eldredge, Morton, Slavery in South Africa, 104–5.

56 B. Morton, ‘Servitude, slave trading, and slavery in the Kalahari’, 222–39.

57 Lichtenstein, Foundation of the Cape: About the Bechuanas, 75–6.

58 Meillassoux, Anthropologie de l'esclavage, 143–7, 235–6; Patterson, Slavery, 106, 148–9; Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery, 3; Cooper, ‘The problem of slavery’, 105-107; Viti, F., Schiavi, Servi e Dipendenti. Antropologia Delle Forme di Dipendenza Personale in Africa (Milano, 2007), 37Google Scholar.

59 Lichtenstein, Travels, ii, 331.

60 Tlou, ‘Servility and political control’, 382.

61 Thompson, Survival, 83; Sanders, Moshoeshoe, 53–4. A thoko, or praise-poem, was composed to commemorate the events. Damane, M. and Sanders, P. (eds.), Lithoko: Sotho Praise Poems (Oxford, 1974), 71–2Google Scholar. The point of view of the abaThembu was captured in a manuscript held at the Cory Library of Grahamstown, Ms. 18534, E. G. Sihele, Who Are the AbaThembu and Where Do They Come From?, trans. into English by N. C. Tisani, 52–6.

62 Either Casalis, Arbousset, or the editors of the missionary periodical commented: ‘The demon of battles has seized the soul of the king of the Bassoutos.’ nd. JME, 11 (1836), 18.

63 Letter from Arbousset to Society, Morija, 3 December 1835, JME, 11 (1836), 140–2. The campaign was described also by Casalis and Gosselin. Letter from Casalis to Society, Motito, 20 May 1835, and Journal by Gosselin, 6 October 1834 to 30 May 1835, JME, 11 (1836), 23–5, 40.

64 Thompson, Survival, 6; A. Mabille, H. Dieterlen (eds.) and R. A. Paroz, Southern Sotho-English Dictionary (Morija, Lesotho, 2011), 402.

65 Damane, Sanders, Lithoko, 64–5.

66 Ellenberger and Macgregor, History of the Basuto, 129; J. C. Macgregor, Basuto Traditions. Being a Record of the Traditional History of the More Important Tribes Which Form the Basuto Nation of To-Day up to the Time of Their Being Absorbed, Compiled from Native Sources (Cape Town, 1905), 18.

67 Ellenberger and Macgregor, History of the Basuto, 123. Mentioned with other cases in Eldredge, A South African Kingdom, 134.

68 Macgregor, Basuto Traditions, 25.

69 Ellenberger and Macgregor, History of the Basuto, 129.

70 Slave descent is, at least in theory, compatible with a position of power. Patterson, Slavery, 314–7; Watson, ‘Slavery as an institution’, 6; P. Valsecchi, ‘Il big man è uno schiavo. Status personale e potere nella Costa d'Oro tra Sei e Ottocento’, in P. G. Solinas, La Dipendenza. Antropologia delle Relazioni di Dominio (Lecce, Italy, 2004), 15–40.

71 M. Kinsman, ‘“Hungry wolves”: The impact of violence on Rolong life, 1823–1836’, in Hamilton, The Mfecane Aftermath, 363–93; Etherington, Great Treks, 133–7.

72 Wits Historical Papers, Johannesburg, A 567, Symons Collection, Item 5, Letter, Mrs. Hodgson to her sisters, Banks of the Modder River, 7 May 1825, photocopy; Hodgson, T. L., The Journals of the Rev. T. L. Hodgson, Missionary to the Seleka-Rolong and the Griquas, 1821–1831 (Johannesburg, 1977), 150–1Google Scholar, 173; Broadbent, S., A Narrative of the First Introduction of Christianity Amongst the Barolong Tribe of Bechuanas, South Africa. With a Brief Summary of the Subsequent History of the Wesleyan Missions to the Same People (London, 1865), 97–8Google Scholar, 107–8.

73 Melvill's narrative in Thompson, G., Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa: Comprising a View of the Present State of the Colony, with Observations on the Progress and Prospects of the British Emigrants (London, 1827)Google Scholar, i, 309–11.

74 Macgregor, Basuto Traditions, 64.

75 Ellenberger and Macgregor, History of the Basuto, 163–4.

76 M. Damane, P. Sanders, ‘The Story of the Sotho – Part 2, by Tlali Moshoeshoe’, Edited and translated with an introduction and notes, in Mohlomi. Journal of Southern African Historical Studies, 6 (1990), 139–64, 146. According to the Mosotho historian Azariel Sekese, however, the campaign was led against the abaThembu, as it would be later in 1835. See A. T. Elias, A. M. Sekese's 29 Articles on the History of the Batlokoa Serially Published in the Leselinyana la Lesotho During 1892–1921, translated from Sesotho into English, B.A. Long Essay, National University of Lesotho (Roma, Lesotho, 1987), 19–20.

77 Ellenberger and Macgregor, History of the Basuto, 194–5.

78 Ibid. 235.

79 Peires, J. B., The House of Phalo: A History of the Xhosa People in the Days of Their Independence (Johannesburg, 2003 [orig. pub. 1981]), 132–4Google Scholar.

80 Letter from François Daumas to Society, Bersheeba, 5 December 1836, JME, 12 (1837), 134–6; SOAS Library, Mf 6181, David-Frédéric Ellenberger, Histoire des BaSotho, anciens et modèrnes (archives de la ‘malle Ellenberger’ II), microfiches of notes and notebooks of the French original, IDC, Leiden, 1993, ‘Chapitre VII [7]. a. Monyaloza, ses acts et sa fin; b. Expedition de Moshesh et de Moroka contre les AmaXosa et les Korannas du Riet River’, 37–40.

81 Macgregor, Basuto Traditions, 30.

82 Orpen, J. M., History of the Basutus of South Africa (Cape Town, 1857), 92–3Google Scholar; Theal, G. M. (ed.), Basutoland Records, Volume 1, 1833–1852, (Cape Town, 1883)Google Scholar, ‘Minutes of a Meeting held at Winburg on the 7th February 1852 between Her Majesty's Assistant Commissioners, the Chief Molitsane, Paulus Moperi, and Molapo and David, sons of Moshesh’, 535–549. Also mentioned in Eldredge, ‘Slave raiding across the Cape frontier’, 120–1.

83 Western Cape Provincial Archives, Cape Town, (WCPA), A 302, 8: Joseph Millerd Orpen Papers, Historical Notes on Natives. Typescript of memorandum by Joseph Millerd Orpen, nd. [c.1900–10], on various subjects, 36 pp., first page missing; the reference is on page 10. Also referred to as Letlatsa. Orpen had met Letlatsa and recorded his version of the story when he was a colonial magistrate in Harrismith. On Orpen, see King, R., ‘“A loyal liking for fair play”: Joseph Millerd Orpen and knowledge production in the Cape Colony’, South African Historical Journal, 68:4 (2015), 410–32Google Scholar.

84 Letter from Arbousset to Society, Morija, 8 November 1853, JME, 29 (1854), 165.

85 Anonymous, ‘Account of Sikonyela’, Friend of the Sovereignty, 10 December 1853, also published in Theal, Basutoland Records, Volume 2, 82–5. This was reported also by Casalis, letter to Society, Thaba Bosiu, 4 November 1853, JME, 29 (1854), 41–2.

86 In addition, Thompson did not make any reference to the attack on the amaXhosa in 1836. Thompson, Survival, 82–3, 165–6.

87 Letter from Arbousset to Society, Morija, 12 January 1849, JME, 24 (1849), 191–4; Letter from Arbousset to Society, Morija, 8 November 1853, JME, 29 (1854), 170.

88 WCPA, A 302, 8: Joseph Millerd Orpen Papers, Historical Notes on Natives, ‘Reminiscences of H. Stevens Resident of Herschel District of 36 years standing’, 2. This could explain why Moorosi was reported to be in the 1870s the ‘nominal chief’ of the San of the Upper Orange valley; see John, J. Wright, Mazel, A. (eds.), Tracks in a Mountain Range: Exploring the History of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg (Johannesburg, 2007), 94–5Google Scholar; Vinnicombe, P., People of the Eland: Rock Paintings of the Drakensberg Bushmen as a Reflection of their Life and Thought (Pietermaritzburg, 1976), 87–103Google Scholar.

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90 Damane, Sanders, Lithoko, 130–1.

91 Lagden, G., The Basutos: The Mountaineers & Their Country, Being a Narrative of Events Relating to the Tribe From Its Formation Early In the Nineteenth Century To the Present Day (London 1909)Google Scholar, ii, 355–6.

92 Casalis, Les Bassoutos, 235.

93 Letter from Daumas to Society, Mekuatleng, January 1854, JME, 29 (1854), 175.

94 Meillassoux, Anthropologie de l'Esclavage, 110–4; C. C. Robertson and M. A. Klein (eds.), Women and Slavery in Africa (Portsmouth, 1997), 3–28.

95 Delius, ‘Recapturing captives’, 8.

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99 Patterson, Slavery, 9–14, 77–101.

100 Letter from Arbousset to Society, Morija, 3 December 1835, JME, 11 (1836), 140–2.

101 V. Ellenberger, La fin, 243–49; Vinnicombe, People of the Eland, 87–103; Wright, Mazel, Tracks in a Mountain Range, 94–5; Vinnicombe, P., ‘Basotho oral knowledge: The last Bushman inhabitant of the Mashai district, Lesotho’, in Mitchell, P. and Smiths, B. (eds.), The Eland's People: New Perspectives in the Rock Art of the Maloti-Drakensberg Bushmen, (Johannesburg, 2010), 165–91Google Scholar; Mitchell, P., ‘Making history at Sehonghong: Soai and the last Bushman occupants of his shelter’, Southern African Humanities, 22 (2010), 149–70Google Scholar.

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111 Damane and Sanders, Lithoko, 68n2.

112 Ibid. 130–1.

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115 ‘A queen, after she became a widow, usually entertains a crowd of female servants; she marries her servants, she would tell you every day: Ke nyetse mometsana (“I've just married a girl”), that is to say that she has just acquired a girl.’ Porte, ‘Les Réminescences’, 311. This nameless description was very likely based on ‘MaMosa, because the missionary Porte worked mainly in Molapo's district of Leribe. This practice is also described by Perrot, Les Sotho et les Missionnaires Européens, 109–10.

116 Mangoaela, Lithoko, 116. Unfortunately, the connection between bohlanka, polygamy, and marriage cannot be properly examined in this paper, and will be analysed in another work.

117 V. Ellenberger, La Fin, 258.

118 Ibid. 255–7.

119 The French original is ‘s'apprivoisèrent’. V. Ellenberger, La Fin, 257.

120 Dooling, ‘Reconstructing the household’, 407; Meillassoux, Anthropologie de l'Esclavage, 109.

121 V. Ellenberger, La Fin, 256. Author's translation from the original French.

122 Ibid.

123 Ibid.