2^1) Till-: r.AtiANANOA OR .M A-LAIU )rri. 



When tlie paj) has been cooked at the kraal, it is heaped 

 on tu a clean dish painted white, and then formed into a long, 

 narrow cone, surmounted by a head — the true phallic pattern — 

 with flat, wooden spatul^e. When all are read\- the girls 

 place dikhari (the rings of woven grass, generally used as a 

 support for liurdens ) upon their heads, and on these the white 

 dishes of pap, and sally forth in procession, singing, to a chosen 

 spot some distance from the Mphato, where a number of up- 

 right stakes are driven into the ground. When the Mariiatsa- 

 hoaiia hear the sound of their singing, they go out to meet 

 them at the same spot, and after the exchange of jests of an 

 extremely questionable nature, the youths take up the burdens 

 and return to the Mphato, and deposit them outside the Tsela 

 ea boratataiiyc. The girls deposit their dikhari over the stakes 

 above-mentioned, and return home. 



The Mamatsahoana then enter the Mphato singing and 

 shouting and dancing as if nothing had happened, but at a 

 given signal they commence whistling softly, exactly as natives 

 do when trying to soothe or catch a startled horse. As soon as 

 the Initiates hear this they immediately drop on one knee, and 

 bending forward, lay their foreheads upon the palms of their 

 right hands upon the ground, so that their eyes are covered. 

 The Alamatsahodiia then announce: "There is a binich of 

 Kaffir-corn coming for you to eat." They all reply: " \\'e are 

 most grateful to have anything to eat." The dishes of food 

 are then brought in and ]:)laced before the Initiates. When they 

 open their eyes and find dishes of food there, they are sup- 

 posed to believe that it has been miraculously provided. Before 

 touching it, however, the " head " of each cake must be broken 

 off by the Mamatsahoana, and these heads, together with the 

 hard skin, which always forms on Kaffir-corn pap wlien ex- 

 posed to the air, and any other refuse of food is thrown on to 

 the fence of the enclosure, where it will be destroyed in the 

 last great burning. 



After the first Month of Instruction, a new means of 

 getting rid of the refuse is provided. One night, after the 

 Initiates are asleep, a small hut, made of fig leaves, is built 

 against the eastern fence, directly opposite the western gate. 

 ( Plate 6, No. 5. ) While this is being done some of the 

 Mamatsahoana are despatched to a secret cave up the moun- 

 tain side to fetch the image of the Sacred Crocodile, which is 

 hidden there. This hideous creature (date 7), crudely 

 carved from a single block of wood, about six feet long, and 

 painted wldte for the occasion, is safely stowed away inside 

 this hut before they retire to rest. . Early next morning the 

 Initiates are assembled before the door of the hut, and as they 

 prostrate themselves on the ground l>efore it, the image is 

 brought forth by the men, who nial<e a hideous din, each one 

 imitating the cry of some living animal. During the whole of 



