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 to them, for he had now doubled the age for superannuation among them.
It is an ingenious plan for attaching the members of the tribe to the chief's 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).