Chap. VII. " BOYALE "— BAMANGWATO HILLS. 149 



who cannot read, the whole system of our influence appears to 

 rest, that innovators ought to be made to propose their new 

 measures as the Locrians did new laws — with ropes around their 

 necks. 



Probably the "boguera" was only a sanitary and political 

 measure ; and there being no continuous chain of tribes practising 

 the rite between the Arabs and the Bechuanas, or Cafrres, and as 

 it is not a religious ceremony, it can scarcely be traced, as is 

 often done, to a Mahometan source. 



A somewhat analogous ceremony (boyale) takes place for 

 young women, and the protegees appear abroad drilled under the 

 surveillance of an old lady to the carrying of water. They are 

 clad during the whole time in a dress composed of ropes made of 

 alternate pumpkin-seeds and bits of reed strung together, and 

 wound round the body in a figure-of-eight fashion. They are 

 inured in this way to bear fatigue, and carry large pots of water 

 under the guidance of the stern old hag. They have often scars 

 from bits of burning charcoal having been applied to the forearm, 

 which must have been done to test their power of bearing pain. 



The Bamangwato hills are part of the range called Bakaa. 

 The Bakaa tribe, however, removed to Kolobeng, and is now 

 joined to that of Sechele. The range stands about 700 or 800 

 feet above the plains, and is composed of great masses of black 

 basalt. It is probably part of the latest series of volcanic rocks 

 in South Africa. At the eastern end these hills have curious 

 fungoid or cup-shaped hollows, of a size which suggests the idea 

 of craters. Within these are masses of the rock crystallized in 

 the columnar form of this formation. The tops of the columns 

 are quite distinct, of the hexagonal form, like the bottom of the 

 cells of a honeycomb, but they are not parted from each other as 

 in the Cave of Fingal. In many parts the lava-streams may be 

 recognised, for there the rock is rent and split in every direction, 

 but no soil is yet found in the interstices. When we were sitting 

 in the evening, after a hot day, it was quite common to hear 

 these masses of basalt split and fall among each other with the 

 peculiar ringing sound which makes people believe that this rock 

 contains much iron. Several large masses, in splitting thus by 

 the cold acting suddenly on parts expanded by the heat of the 

 clay, have slipped down the sides of the hills, and, impinging 



