"THE BOYAI^E." 137 



to them, for he had now doubled the age for superannua- 

 tion among them. It is an ingenious plan for attaching 

 the members of the tribe to the chiefs family, and for 

 imparting a discipline which renders the tribe easy of 

 command. On their return to the town from attendance 

 on the ceremonies of initiation, a prize is given to the lad 

 who can run fastest, the article being placed where all 

 may see the winner run up to snatch it. They are then 

 considered men (banona, viri), and can sit among the elders 

 in the kotla. Formerly they were only boys (basimane, 

 pueri). The first missionaries set their faces against the 

 boguera, on account of its connection with heathenism, 

 and the fact that the youths learned much evil, and became 

 disobedient to their parents. From the general success 

 of these men, it is perhaps better that younger missionaries 

 should tread in their footsteps ; for so much evil may 

 result from breaking down the authority on which, to 

 those 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 L,ocrians 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 Caffres, and as it is not a religious ceremony, 

 it can scarcely be traced, as is often done, to a Ma- 

 hometan source. 



A somewhat analogous ceremony (boy ale) 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 



