RHODESIA 
231 
ward, the Imperial Government placed Basutoland in 1884, 
Bechuanaland in 1885, and finally Swaziland in 1894, under 
its protection. A Resident Commissioner was put in control 
over the first immediately; but the others were administered 
for a time by the South African Company — Bechuanaland 
till 1891 and Swaziland till 1903. They are all now under 
resident commissioners, subject to the High Commissioner 
of South Africa, and ruled through the native headmen and 
chiefs, of whom there are usually one paramount chieftain 
and a number of lesser rulers responsible for their respective 
districts or tribes to the head chief. Local customs, rights, 
tribal government, languages, and methods of life, trade, 
and agriculture have been carefully preserved. England has 
been well served and her resident commissioners have been 
uniformly able, tactful, broad-minded men, inspiring the 
confidence and preserving the good will of both the people 
and the chiefs. This system of rule has been very successful 
among the native states in South Africa, and it has given to 
these protectorates many years of peace, fair prosperity, and 
steady development, and removed a serious thorn from the 
side of the colonies. In addition 300,000 square miles, ap- 
proximately, have been added to the British possessions in 
South Africa. 
While this movement was in progress, another of far more 
consequence for South Africa was inaugurated and brought 
through tribulation to a successful issue. North of the 
Transvaal and the Limpopo River lay the two native dis- 
tricts of Matabeleland and Mashonaland covering an area of 
144,000 square miles and reaching to the Zambesi River. 
Beyond that great waterway, a vast unoccupied region 
stretched away northward to the Congo and Lakes N yasa 
and Tanganyika. Cecil Rhodes, who later earned the title 
of “empire-builder,” was among the first to see the possibil- 
ities of this great hinterland and what its possession might