^00 THE MOPATO SYSTEM. Chap. VR 



his voice the panegyric which that ruler is said to have pro- 



(18) nounced at his boguera. This repetition of his " leina" is so 

 pleasing to a chief that he generally sends a handsome 

 present to the person who performs the office. 



A good deal of beating is required to bring the young 

 scholars up to the mark, and when they return they have 

 generally a number of scars on their backs. On their return 

 from the ceremonies of initiation a prize is given to the lad 

 who can run fastest. They are then considered men, and can 

 sit among the elders in the kotla. 



These bands or regiments, which are named mepato in the 

 plural and mopato in the singular, receive particular appella- 

 tions ; as, the Matsatsi, or " the suns ;" the Mabusa, or " the 

 rulers." Though living in different parts of a town, they 

 turn out at the call, and act under the chief's son. They 

 recognise a sort of equality, and address one another by the 

 title of molekane or comrade. If a member commits any 

 offence against the rules, such as cowardice or eating alone 

 when his mates are within call, the rest may strike him. A 

 person who belongs to an older mopato may chastise a culprit 

 in a younger, but no one in a junior band may meddle with 

 his seniors. When three or four companies have been formed 

 the oldest no longer takes the field in time of war, but re- 

 mains as a guard over the women and children. When a 

 fugitive comes to a tribe he is incorporated into the mopato 

 analogous to that to which he belonged in his own tribe. 

 No native knows his own age. If asked how old he is, he 



(19) answers, " Does a man remember when he was born ?" They 

 reckon solely by the number of mepato which have been formed 

 since their own. "When they have witnessed four or five they 

 are no longer obliged to bear arms. The oldest man I ever 

 met boasted that he had seen eleven sets of boys submit to the 

 boguera. If he was fifteen at his own initiation, and fresh 

 bands were added every six or seven years, he may have been 

 about seventy-five or eighty, which is no great age ; but it 

 seemed so to people who are considered superannuated at 

 forty. 



The Mopato sj'stem is an ingenious plan for attaching the 

 tribe to the chiefs family^ and for imparting a discipline 

 which renders the people easy of command. The first 



