Chap. Vir. 
THE “ BOGUERA.’ 
147 
dance, the boys’ backs aire seamed with wounds and weals, the 
scars of which remain through life. This is intended to harden 
the young soldiers, and prepare them for the rank of men. After 
this ceremony, and after kilKng a rliinoceros, they may marry a 
wife. 
In the “ koha ” the same respect is shown to age as in many 
other of their customs. A younger man, rushing from the ranks 
to exercise his wand on the backs of the youths, may be him¬ 
self the object of chastisement by the older, and, on the occasion 
referred to, Sekomi received a severe cut on the leg from one 
of liis grey-haired people. On my joking with some of the 
young men on their want of courage, notwithstanding all the 
beatings of which they bore marks, and hinting that our soldiers 
were brave without suffering so much, one 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 to try a race would have been given, 
and you may frequently see gTown men adopting that means of 
testing superiority, like so many children. 
The sechu is practised by three tribes only. Bogiiera is ob¬ 
served by all the Bechuanas and Cafifres, but not by the negro 
tribes beyond 20° south. The “ boguera ” is a civil rather than 
a religious rite. All the boys of an age between ten and four¬ 
teen 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 thek 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 retmm 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 par¬ 
ticular appellations; as, the Matsatsi—the smis; the Mabusa—■ 
the rulers; equivalent to our Coldstreams or Emiisldllens; and 
though living in different parts of the town, they tmm out at the 
L 2 
