t least a week before the initiation ceremony commences. In some cases
candidates are despatched on a tramp extending over many days; and such
implicit faith is placed in their honour that judges are not even sent
with them to see that everything is carried out fairly. They must
accomplish this task within a given period, and without partaking of
either food or water during the whole time. No matter how great the
temptation may be on the route, they conform strictly to the rules of the
test, and would as soon think of running themselves through with a spear,
as of seeking a water-hole. The inspectors who judge at this amazing
examination are, of course, the old and experienced chiefs.

After the fasting comes the ordeal proper. The unfortunate candidate
presents himself before one of the examiners, and settles his face into a
perfectly stoical expression. He is then stabbed repeatedly on the
outside of the thighs and in the arms (never once is an artery cut); and
if he remains absolutely statuesque at each stab, he comes through the
most trying part of the ordeal with flying colours. A motion of the
lips, however, or a mutter--these are altogether fatal. Not even a toe
must move in mute agony; nor may even a muscle of the eyelid give an
uneasy and involuntary twitch. If the candidate fails in a minor degree,
he is promptly put back, to come up again for the next examination; but
in the event of his being unable to stand the torture, he is
contemptuously told to go and herd with the women--than which there is no
more humiliating expression.

While yet the candidate's wounds are streaming with blood, he is required
to run with lightning speed for two or three miles and fetch back from a
given spot a kind of toy lance planted in the ground. Then, having
successfully passed the triple ordeals of fasting, stabbing, and running
against time, and without food and water, the candidate, under the eyes
of his admiring father, is at length received into the ranks of the
bravest warriors, and is allowed to take a wife. At the close of the
ceremony, the flow of blood from the candidate's really serious flesh-
wounds is stopped by means of spiders' webs, powdered charcoal, and dry
clay powder.

With regard to the girls, I am afraid they received but scant
consideration.

Judged by our standard, the women were far from handsome. They had very
bright eyes, broad, flat noses, low, narrow foreheads, and heavy chins.
But t