Chap. VII. "SECHU"— "BOGUERA." 99 



rapple bush called moretloa (Greicia flava). They started off 

 into a dance named '• kolia," in the course of which they pu« 

 questions to the boys, as " Will you guard the chief well 

 "Will you herd the cattle well?" As the lads give ai 

 affirmative response, the men rush forward, and each aims *- 

 full blow at his vis-a-vis. The boy shields his head with the 

 sandals, and causes the supple wand to descend upon his back 

 Every stroke makes the blood squirt out from a wound a foo< 

 or eighteen inches long. By the end of the dance the whole 

 back is seamed with wheals, of which the scars remain through 

 life. The beating is intended to harden the young soldiers. 

 After this initiation has been gone through, and they have 

 killed a rhinoceros, they may marry a wife. 



In the " koha " dance the same respect is shown to age as 

 in many other of their customs. A younger man, who exer- 

 cises his wand on the bo} T s, may himself be chastised by an 

 older person. On the occasion on which I was present. 

 Sekomi received a severe cut on the leg from a grey-haired 

 disciplinarian. I joked with some of the young fellow? on 

 their want of courage, notwithstanding the scourgings of 

 which they bore marks, and hinted that our soldiers did not 

 need so much suffering to make them brave. A man rose up 

 and said, " Ask him if, when he and I were compelled by a 

 lion to stop and make a fire, I did not lie down and sleep as 

 well as himself." In other parts a challenge would have been 

 given to run a race : grown men frequently adopt this mode of 

 testing superiority, like so many children. 



The sechu is practised by three tribes only. Boguera. 

 which is a civil rather than a religious rite, is observed by all 

 the Bechuanas and Caffres, but not by the negro tribes beyond 

 20° south. All the boys between ten and fourteen or fifteen 

 are selected to be the companions for life of one of the sons of 

 the chief. They are taken to some retired spot in the forest. 

 and huts are erected for their accommodation. There the old 

 men teach them to dance and initiate them into all the 

 mysteries of African government. Each is expected to com- 

 pose an oration in praise of himself, called a " leina " or ] 

 and must repeat it with fluency. 



When at Sekomi's we generally heard his praises sow 

 hy a man who rose at break of day and uttered at the top of 



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