136 " THK BOGUERA." 



of an age 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 out to some retired spot in the forest, 

 and huts are erected for their accommodation ; the old 

 men go out and teach them to dance, initiating them, 

 at the same time, into all the mysteries of African politics 

 and government. Each one is expected to compose an 

 oration in praise of himself, called a " leina " or name, 

 and to be able to repeat it with sufficient fluency. A good 

 deal of beating is required to bring them up to the required 

 excellency in different matters, so that, when they return 

 from the close seclusion in which they are kept, they have 

 generally a number of scars to show on their backs. These 

 bands or regiments, named mepato in the plural and 

 mopato in the singular, receive particular appellations ; 

 as, the Matsatsi — the suns ; the Mabusa — the rulers ; 

 equivalent to our Coldstreams or Enniskillens ; and 

 though living in different parts of the town, they turn out 

 at the call, and act under the chief's son as their com- 

 mander. They recognise a sort of equality and partial 

 communism ever afterwards, and address each other by 

 the title of molekane or comrade. In cases of offence 

 against their rules, as eating alone when any of their 

 comrades are within call, or in cases of cowardice or derelic- 

 tion of duty, the} 7 may strike one another, or any member 

 of a younger mopato, but never any one of an older band ; 

 and when three or four companies have been made, the 

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

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

 comes to a tribe, he is directed to the mopato analogous 

 to that to which in his own tribe he belongs, and does 

 duty as a member. No one of the natives knows how old 

 he is. If asked his age he answers by putting another 

 question — " Does a man remember when ne was born ? " 

 Age is reckoned by the number of mepato they have seen 

 pass through the formulae of admission. When they see 

 four or five mepato younger than themselves they are 

 no longer obliged to bear arms. The oldest individual 

 I ever met boasted he had seen eleven sets of boys submit 

 to the boguera. Supposing him to have been fifteen 

 when he saw his own, and fresh bands were added every 

 six or seven years, he must have been about forty when 

 he saw the fifth, and may have attained seventy-five or 

 eighty years, which is no great age ; but it seemed so 



