200 PUBERTY RITES OF BASUTO. 



served after the niasasa or poles of the lodge have been hastily 



carried in procession to where the feast is to be held. In this 



procession horsemen in gay attire surround the bashemane or 



-neophytes, clad in black ox skins, which are burnt on leaving the 



lodge finally, being worn in the lodge only (drawers of ox-hide 



are worn for a week or two after they come out, during which time 



they continue to wear the red ochre). The procession is headed 



"by a warrior in war array. His horse and those of his companions 



•are, of course, a modern addition, due probably to the importance 



'of haste (suggesting eagerness) in bringing up the neophytes. 



'They have to go at double pace all the time. Part of the ceremony 



of the feast which follows is the twirling over his shoulder by the 



'warrior just mentioned of some of the meat of a bull, which he 



'has torn out by means of the barbed spear on which he holds it. 



■'Barbed spears are novv^ used only in this ceremony by the Basuto, 



"and not in war as among the Mashona ; but this religious use of 



"the weapon is doubtless significant. , The Bamangwato also have 



'barbed arrows according to Stow. While the warrior twirls the 



strip of flesh each neophyte kneels with hands behind him and is 



beaten till he succeeds in tearing off some of the meat with his 



•teeth. That night they steal away in the midst of the feast as 



though to gather firewood. It must not be known where they go. 



They are taken off to the site of the lodge, which they must build 



-by' sunrise ; they must also collect firewood to last them till they 



are healed and can move freely again, for the night following they 



'will be circumcised. It is said that human flesh is mingled with 



' 'their pap, called sehoere, which I am told is also the name by which 



they address one another at the lodge. It seems to be related to 



'■bohoera, the name of the whole company of neophytes, and if so, 



• according to Prof. Meinhof, to lira, which means a war host, and 



-also enemies, a hostile host, where the English and Latin word has 



exactly the same ambiguity. It is evident from this that the 



■'puberty rites were regarded as the enlistment in the army, cf. the 



' warrior riding before their procession, where anciently perhaps 



■■the whole m.anhood of the tribe went out to bring up the neophytes, 



•■as, I think, is still the case among the Becoana (see Mr. Willoughby's 



admirable paper on their rites). It is well known that all those 



'circumcised with a young chief are his special bodyguard till death, 



so 'that the successive bohoeras form the regiments of various ages 



"and experience attached to various members of the chiefs famihes. 



•■- 'The lodge is usually one among the Basuto now, but if the num- 



'feer of neophytes is great there may be more. The big towns of the 



Barolong, according to Mr. Willoughby, have several lodges, 



corresponding to various clans. If there are two brothers they 



'must be in different lodges among the Barolong. Among the 



Basuto it suffices that there be two doors* to the lodge, the elder 



* I passed close to a lodge the other day in the Leribe district of Basuto- 

 'land. and noted that it consisted of two beehive huts (lying north and south — 

 the roofs smeared with mud) connected by a passage, on the eastern side of 

 which was the one door, divided into two by a pole down the middle, as Mr. 

 Willoughby describes the Bechuana lodge. Masses of brushwood for fuel 

 (not mest. as usual) w^ere piled a few feet to the east of each hut, forming a 

 screen and court. 



