PUBERTY RITES OF BASUTO. 201 



using the Eastern, the younger the Western, according to one 

 informant. The training takes the form of frequent beatings, 

 which any circumcised man may administer at will, and which 

 must be endured in silence. They are taught special secret songs 

 and warlike poems, with the help of the rod, which is made from 

 the moflfi bush, an evergreen. The singing takes place at night, 

 and is taught by those already circumcised. During the day they 

 get sleep. They must keep from the sight of women, and of the 

 uninitiated. They converse in whispers, their trainer, the mosuoe, 

 must not hear. While the wound is still sore they carefully bathe 

 every morning. 



Another big feast takes place on their coming out of the lodge 

 three months later. They are anointed Vv'ith red ochre when they 

 corrie out, and bring home bundles of tinderweed to make fires. 

 They are met by the girls with presents of necklaces, etc. I am 

 told that the girls also try to kiss them, but that they ungallantly 

 avoid. They may not go home to sleep for a fortnight. The 

 second night of their arrival home there is a feast, when the girls 

 serenade them with songs, after they have been herding the cattle 

 during the day. For a fortnight they remain makholoane and 

 wear red ochre and continue to sing their lithoko or praises. At 

 daylight they are up to make their own fire, and off with the cattle. 

 There are certain tabus which continue for a year. One is said to 

 be against women, continuing for four years, vv'hen more are cir- 

 cumcised, but it does not seem to be always kept now. 



I should mention that there are not only secret songs, but a 

 secret language of the mophato. Each animal, tor example, is called 

 by a different name from the ordinary, and these cryptic names are 

 handed on from generation to generation among the men. 



I have to acknowledge much help from Mr. G. H. MacGaskill, of 

 Bethlehem. 



PRIORITY IN DISCOVERY OF HALLEY'S COMET. 



— From an announcement made at a recent meeting of the Royal 

 Astronomical Society it appears that the earliest recorded observa- 

 tion of Halley's comet during its present apparition was made at 

 Hehyan, Upper Egypt, by Messrs. Keeling and Knox-Shaw, on the 

 24th August last. A plate having been exposed in the 30-inch 

 Reynolds reflector, on development what was supposed to be the 

 comet was seen near the position computed for it : the negative 

 was sent to Greenwich for confirmation, where it was concluded 

 that the marking on the plate had been actually produced by the 

 comet. 



In No. 4,381 of the Astronomische Nachrichten it is stated that, 

 by means of the prismatic camera, Messrs. Frost and Parkhurst 

 have ascertained that the light of the comet is now largely due to 

 the third cyanogen band. 



It is estimated that, to admit of the earth passing through the 

 comet's tail, the length of the latter should be at least 13,800,000 

 miles. A star chart, showing the comet's path during the next 

 three months, is printed on page 202. 



