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Staples and Hudson ecological survey, begun in 1936, involved significantly more fieldwork and the collection of a much greater quantity of data. Between October 1936 and January 1937 Staples, at that time the Botanist to the Tanganyika administration,78 and W.K. Hudson, of the Basutoland Public Works Department, travelled the bridle­

paths of the mountain area on horseback along with a party of six (unnamed) Basotho assistants, a police guide and 13 pack horses. Hudson’s primary role was both to act as a surveyor for the ecological survey and to draw up a separate report on the state of the mountain bridle-paths.79 It is safe to assume that Staples was primarily responsible for the ecological findings in the final report.

Staples and his assistants collected over three hundred different botanical specimens and mapped out the incidence of different communities of vegetation. Like Thornton,

76 LNA 212, Thornton, R.W., Report on Pastoral and Agricultural Conditions in Basutoland, n.d. [c.

July 1931].

77 The term invader species, and Thornton’s reference to an ‘intruder’, should not imply that the climax community was altering because o f internal ecological dynamics: it should be remembered that the basis of Clements’s theory was that climax communities could only be altered by external influences, such as the impact o f domestic livestock. The term ‘invader’ refers to the fact that under a succession model certain species (invaders) would move onto a piece o f land vegetated only by pioneer species. Over time invader species would, in turn, be replaced by species o f the climax community.

78 After studying agriculture at Cambridge University, Staples became, in 1922, a botanist in the South African Department of Agriculture. In 1929 he moved to Tanganyika, first as an Agricultural Economist, then a Research Officer on pastures and finally as Botanist. Later on he transferred to Southern Rhodesia as the Chief Pasture Officer; Kirk Greene, A Biographical Dictionary o f the British Colonial Service.

79 Staples and Hudson, Ecological Survey, p. 2.

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Staples identified the sweetveld rooigras species as forming one distinct climax community. He also, however, identified a second climax community, this time consisting of sourveld species such as Festuca caprina- In line with Clementsian

ecology Staples argued that these variations in vegetation were primarily due to climatic variability caused by aspect and relief. Staples did admit that edaphic variability,

especially the transition from basalt to sandstone, could affect the frequency of dominant species within the two climax communities but the effect was not marked enough to produce a shift from one climax to another.

Staples identified these two separate climaxes using Sesotho terminology. The sweetveld rooigrass communities he named seboku. the Sesotho name for the species Themeda triandra. This was the dominant climax community in the mountain zone, but also the one that had suffered most from overgrazing or conversion into farm land.

It was found up to an altitude of 7,500 feet on slopes with a southerly aspect and high as 9,000 feet on slopes with a northerly aspect.

On the best soils seboku grasses were dominated by a rich sward of Themeda triandra but on poorer soils other species could be important. Thinner stony soils with a northerly aspect often had stands of mohlomo thatching grass (sp. Hvparrhenia hirta) while on ‘immature’ soils the biotic community could include significant numbers of serai species (i.e. lower down the succession), such as the unpalatable Aristida Braedii. Staples described the rich swards of Themeda triandra growing on the rich black loamy soils of the mountain basalt as ‘some of the finest, if not the best, sheep pasture in South Africa’.80 The similarity between this statement and one from Thornton’s 1931 report suggest that Staples was highly influenced by the earlier work.81

The second climax community, Staples labelled as letsiri. the Sesotho word used to describe the two dominant species Festuca caprina and Festuca rubra. This sourveld climax community was to be found above 7,000 feet on slopes with a southerly aspect and above 9,000 feet on slopes with a northerly aspect. Though grasses in this

community were generally less palatable than the seboku grasses they did provide adequate pasture during the summer months.

80 Staples and Hudson, Ecological Survey, p. 16.

81 LNA 212, Thornton, R.W., Report on Pastoral and Agricultural Conditions in Basutoland, n.d. [c.

July 1931]. Thornton described Lesotho’s mountain Themeda triandra stands as ‘the best sheep pasture in South Africa’.

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Both of these climax communities had suffered from overgrazing. Staples agreed with Thornton’s assessment that the major result of overgrazing was the increase in the area occupied by ‘bitter karoo bush’ (Chrvsocoma tenuifoliaV Again Staples labelled the vegetation according to its Sesotho name, sehalahala (meaning simply small bush). Sehalahala was to be found mainly on slopes with a northern aspect at altitudes between 7,000 and 9,500 feet. In some areas it formed a more or less pure stand, whilst in others it was mixed with seboku or letsi species. It was found to be more prevalent on the drier southern and central mountain ranges than in the wetter northern regions.

As sehalahala was not a naturally occurring serai species in Lesotho, coming from the more arid mixed grassland Karoo bush areas of the Cape Province, Staples did not consider it a sub-climax but rather a dis-climax. Continuous close grazing reduced competition from grass species and allowed the unpalatable sehalahala to establish itself. Furthermore a decrease in the incidence of fire, itself related to an increase in grazing (resulting in less flammable biomass), also favoured sehalahala. Staples argued that reducing grazing pressure and the regular burning of areas covered by sehalahala would rapidly lead to the re-establishment of seboku or letsi climax communities. He recommended that the nascent experimental programme begun in 1933 be expanded as soon as possible to examine the stocking rates and burning regimes that would allow the climax to be re-established (the experimental programme is examined in more detail in chapter 8).

While Staples and his assistants carried out a much more detailed survey than Thornton in 1931 it should be recognised that their basic research methodology was similar.

Staples and Hudson noted that their job of mapping the vegetation pattern was made easier by the fact that ‘almost at the start of the Fieldwork ... it became apparent that, from the pasture viewpoint, there were three main types of vegetation only’.82 From then on their task became simply to allocate every area to one of the three categories and map the distribution. This was done simply by observation.

While some efforts were made to investigate vegetation changes over time (mainly questioning Basotho informants) the data simply did not exist for Staples to generate the model of ecological change which he produced. This model was principally the result of placing observations from the field into a framework provided by both Clementsian ecological theory and pre-existing southern African concerns over an expanding Karoo. Staples ‘reading’ of the mountain environment was structured by the

82 Staples and Hudson, Ecological Survey, p. 12.

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accepted ecological theories of the time. Both Staples and Thornton took a spatial pattern of vegetation, a mix of three veld types, and ‘read* a process (pasture degradation) from the pattern.

In in the past two to three decades range ecology has shifted away from Clementsian ideas quite dramatically. These new approaches of African rangelands could offer significantly different ‘readings’ of Lesotho’s mountain environment. In chapter 5 I will try to explore some of the implications of these different ‘readings’ of the environment and suggest that they indicate the colonial fears about one-way pasture deterioration may have been misguided.