All the boys 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 commander.