For the Basuto a native gives the following list:--1, _phato_ = August, begins the year; 2, _loetse_, from _loetsa_, ‘to anoint wounds with fat, syringe the ear’, since the winter is broken and a little warmth comes; 3, _mphalane_, _mphalane ’a leshoma_, _leshoma_ a kind of bulb which at that time begins to sprout, perhaps from _liphalana_, to glitter, the sun glitters, does not warm, or because of the girl-circumcision, which is announced by means of the blowing of _liphalana_-flutes by the old women who perform the operation; 4, _pulungoana_, diminutive of _pulumo_, gnu, which at this time brings forth its young; 5, _tsitoe_, grasshopper, which is especially to be heard at this time; 6, _pherekong_, perhaps ‘interjoin sticks’; 7, _tlhakola_ = _hlakola_, to wipe off, _tlhakola molula_, to wipe off the _molula_: _molula_ is the stage at which the _mabele_ grain is still completely enveloped in the husk: now the grains shoot forth and the _molula_ disappear, _molula_ also means a kind of grass which is used in basket-work; 8, _tlhakubele_, from _thlaku_, grains: therefore:--the _mabele_ plant has grains; 9, _’mesa_, _’mesa tseleng_, kindling fire by the roadside, as is done by those who drive away the birds from the fields, either to warm themselves or to roast ears of corn; 10, _motseanong_, i. e. ‘bird-laugher’, since the grains are by now so firmly fixed in the ears that the birds cannot get them; 11, _phupjoane_, from _phupu_, ‘beginning to swell’, with reference to a kind of bulb; 12, _phuphu_, ‘bulging out’, i. e. bulbs and the stems of some hardy plants[765]. Of the Caffres we are told:--They count in the year only twelve months, and for these they have names: the result is frequent confusion and difference of opinion as to which month it really is. There is, for example, the month of the cuckoo, when this bird is first heard, the month of the erythusia, when this plant blossoms, the month of much dust, mid-winter. The names of the moons are more or less descriptive of the season, e. g. _newaba_, green, describes the first appearance of the vegetation; _furnfu_, September, cattle licking green grass; _zibandhlela_, October, footpaths being covered with grass; _hlolange_, January, time to look for first-fruits; _hlangula_, May, time of falling leaves[766]. Unfortunately the complete list is not given.