HIS CHIEFTAINSHIP. 17 



terrified Bakwains with a dexterity which they alone can employ. 

 Sebituane had given orders to his men to spare the sons of the 

 chief; and one of them, meeting Sechele, put him in ward by 

 giving him such a blow on the head with a club as to render him 

 insensible. The usurper was put to death ; and Sechele, reinstated 

 in his chieftainship, felt much attached to Sebituane. The cir- 

 cumstances here noticed ultimately led me, as will be seen by- 

 and-by, into the new, well-watered country to which this same 

 Sebituane had preceded me by many years. 



Sechele married the daughters of three of his under-ehiefs, who 

 had, on account of their blood relationship, stood by him in his 

 adversity. This is one of the modes adopted for cementing the 

 allegiance of a tribe. The government is patriarchal, each man 

 being, by virtue of paternity, chief of his own children. They 

 build their huts around his, and the greater the number of 

 children, the more his importance increases. Hence children are 

 esteemed one of the greatest blessings, and are always treated 

 kindly. Near the centre of each circle of huts there is a spot 

 called a " kotla," with a fireplace ; here they work, eat, or sit 

 and gossip over the news of the day. A poor man attaches him- 

 self to the kotla of a rich one, and is considered a child of the 

 latter. An under-chief has a number of these circles around his ; 

 and the collection of kotlas around the great one in the middle 

 of the whole, that of the principal chief, constitutes the town. 

 The circle of huts immediately around the kotla of the chief is 

 composed of the huts of his wives and those of his blood rela- 

 tions. He attaches the under-chiefs to himself and his govern- 

 ment by marrying, as Sechele did, their daughters, or inducing his 

 brothers to do so. They are fond of the relationship to great fam- 

 ilies. If you meet a party of strangers, and the head man's rela- 

 tionship to some uncle of a certain chief is not at once proclaimed 

 by his attendants, you may hear him whispering, " Tell him who 

 I am."' This usually involves a counting on the fingers of a part 

 of his genealogical tree, and ends in the important announce- 

 ment that the head of the party is half-cousin to some well-known 

 ruler. 



Sechele was thus seated in his chieftainship when I made his 

 acquaintance. On the first occasion in which I ever attempted 

 to hold a public religious service, he remarked that it was the 



B 



