a very long time
resided among the Bassoutos, tells us that among that nation the
operation is performed at the age of from thirteen to fifteen years. The
ceremony is gone through once in three or four years. So important an
event is it considered by the Bassoutos that they date events from one
of these observances, as the Romans dated events from a certain
consulship, or the Greeks from an Olympiade. At the time fixed, all the
candidates go through a sham rebellion and escape to the woods; the
warriors arm and give chase, and, after a sham battle, capture the
insurgents, whom they bring back as prisoners, amidst dancing and great
rejoicings, which are the preludes to the feast. The next day the huts
of mystery (_mapato_) are erected, where, after the circumcision, the
young men are to reside for some eight months, under the tutorship of
experienced teachers, who drill them in the use of the spear, sword, and
shield, teaching them to endure hunger, thirst, blows, and all manner of
hardships; prolonged fasts and cruel flagellations being regarded as
pastimes between the exercises. The severity of the regulations may be
judged from the fact that the instructors have a right to put to death
any one who may try to escape from these ordeals. The women are
rigorously excluded from these camps, but the men are allowed to visit
them, when they have the privilege of assisting the teachers by adding
additional blows and precepts to the backs of the unlucky candidates.
After eight months of such training, the young men are oiled from head
to foot and dressed in a garment, and are now given the name which they
are to bear for the rest of their lives. The _mapato_, or mystery hut,
is now burned to the ground and the young men return to the village. The
maternal uncle of the youth here presents him with a javelin for his
defense, and a cow that is to furnish him with nourishment. Until the
time of his marriage, the newly circumcised dwell together; their duties
being of a menial character, such as gathering wood and attending to the
flocks and droves.

M. Paul Lafargue looks upon circumcision among the negro races as being
a rite commemorating their advent to manhood; Livingstone, who has also
observed the above, related incidents in relation to the performance of
_boguera_, or circumcision, among the Bassoutos, believes that with them
the rite has a purely civil significance, being in no way connected with
religion.

Among many of