HIS CHIEFTAINSHIP. 7 



with a dexterity which they alone can employ. Sebi- 

 tuane 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 jmt to death ; 

 and Sechele, reinstated in his chieftainship, felt much 

 attached to Sebituane. The circumstances 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- 

 chiefs, 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 himself to the kotla of a rich one, 

 and is considered a child of the latter. An underchief 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 

 relations. He attaches the underchief s to himself and his 

 government by marrying, as Sechele did, their daughters, 

 or inducing his brothers to do so. They are fond of the 

 relationship to great families. If you meet a party of 

 strangers, and the head man's relationship to some uncle 

 of a certain chief is not at once proclaimed by his atten- 

 dants, 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 an- 

 nouncement 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 custom of his nation, when any new subject 



