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Auction: 20040 - Stamps and Covers of Southern Africa
Lot: 16

Basutoland
Covers and Cancellation
The Insurrection of 1897
1898 (8 Feb.) four page autograph letter from James F. Goring to Mrs. Orpen giving a detailed account of the civil war including illustrations between Masupha and Lerotholi (his nephew), from the cause of the trouble to its conclusion, "...There was much fighting AND much running away.. One of the printers, recounting the story said 'when they fired the first volley on us from the fortress, we all turned and ran away. I did not stop for 3 miles, and then I went flat on my back and fired eight times at the fortress' (his gun could carry 300 yards perhaps)... Thus the war went on for some weeks, some 100 to150 men being killed. At last a decisive battle was fought. Api (son of Lerothali) ascended Berea, and attacked and destroyed all the village there. At the same time Mojella (chief of Hermon) ascended Khamaland, and cut off a number of Masupha's men and got between them and the fortress. Mojella pushed them slowly but surely to the precipice, and, at last, despairing of their lives, they hurled their horses over the precipice, and those that did not follow their horses were shot..." Fine and fascinating detail

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Estimate
£200 to £250

Starting price
£140